Continuation - Season 6
by TMCL247
Summary: As on the tin, this fanfic is a continuation of the POI story, starting from where season 5 of the TV show left off. As this is a new season I will be introducing new characters as well as revisit old. This fanfic also comes with INSERTS, which are side stories to the main ones. Though you do not need to read the INSERTS it does add an extra element to the overall story arc.
1. Can You Hear Me?

Chapter 1

Can You Hear Me?

 _ _Present, 2016:__

"Can you hear me?" Enquires Root, standing over Shaw.

Dry tears fall on an otherwise unflinching face, eyes betraying her. Enveloped in darkness and smothered by the street sounds echoing below, Shaw only curls her knees higher into her chest. Reality, dream or simulation, it's all a blur, what is real? She whispers, _"_ _ _you're not here"__ , followed by the not so audible, _"_ _ _I can't do this"__...

" _ _I'm right here", concerning eyes now falling on her beloved Sameen.__

" _ _You're not real", as Shaw drops her head onto her knees.__

" _ _Sweetie what is real? You and I both know the mind has no capacity to separate it."__

" _ _I'm just a shape, is that it? And then we're gone?"__

 _ _Smiling, "Just because you can't see an object, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist." Root pauses before continuing, "I'm here because you're here".__

" _ _Root! I'm not in the mind set for this!?"__

 _ _Amused, "then who are you talking to?"__

Shaw lifts her head and the world with it's sounds come flooding back into focus with Shaw, feeling now the full force of the cold concrete creeping into her body, and the cold night air washing over her, she shivers.

"Hey, Looney Tunes!" Snapping Shaw out of her daze as she looks over at that all too abrasively familiar figure willing her to move, "we got a number, so if you're finished brooding we have work to do!" ' _ _Like, any time, now__ ' _ _,__ as his stare bears down on her.

"I'm not in the mood!"

"You two are really getting on my nerves you know!? My son is waiting for me at home and I have to babysit tall dark broody, and tiny dark moody!"

Shaw shoots Fusco a glare at this, rolls her eyes and lifts her hands in resignation before getting up to help Fusco chase down this latest number.

 _ _Rewinding 2015:__

"30 seconds", warns The Machine as Harold heads for the rooftop exit. Heavily armed Samaritan agents were now shooting at Reese as The Machine remains standing over him in this his last stand off with Samaritan...

 _ _Rewind 60 seconds...__

"Where the hell are you Smith, it's not looking so hot up there!" Enquires Reed, standing watch over a rooftop about a mile away, looking over at the Man in the Suit through his scope.

Panting... "Don't see you doing the running!" As Smith continues running up the stairwell.

 _ _Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang__ , as the muzzle of the rifle lights up, sounds muffled by the silencer, and the fact that Reed was several hundred feet in the air... Reed shoots, not in time as he watches the Man get shot once, twice, __bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang__ , Reed continues to fire, taking down a couple and placing cover for Reed.

"30 seconds", warns The Machine.

"Time to go Suit!", as Smith gets to Reese and quickly pulls a harness over his body and clipping it onto his own. With a heave, Smith pushes both himself and Reese off the rooftop just as he hears an explosion. Then the feel of the thundering blast from the explosion.

The payphone is ringing as Shaw walks past it with Bear. Surprise hits Shaw and she can't help but pick up the phone.

"Hey Sweetie, did you miss me?" Asks Machine Root. Shaw turns and looks straight up at the street camera above her right shoulder, a glimmer of a smile forming as Bear stands guard. "If you go to the subway I'll make it worth your while", she teases. Shaw can't help but be relieved that The Machine was alive, and the familiarity of that voice, Root's voice. Shaw would always be drawn to that voice, but not without the conflict of comfort and the stark reminder of what has gone.

 _ _Present, 2016__

Like an echo in the background, _"_ _ _I love it when you play Doctor"__ , the familiar sound of Root's innuendo returns.

"Dr Turing... Doctor", as Shaw snaps back into the present. Seeing a surgical doctor staring back at her expectantly, __'oh yeah, running through the surgical procedure'...__

Walking out of the ER doors and standing in the unusually quiet courtyard, free of the noise of flashing lights, Shaw sighs into her coffee cup as she tries to catch a brief respite. It was the crisp early hours of the morning, and after a freak accident causing a chain reaction of events, it accumulated into a very chaotic night shift for her.

" _ _I think the brunette likes you", flirts Root.__

" _ _Not my type", Shaw spits back.__

" _ _Saaaameen" Root drawls, "I didn't know you had a type?"__

" _ _No, I had you", as she smirks in reply.__

 _ _With the tilt of her head in adoration, "you still have."__

Back at the entrance of the ER door stands the brunette, "Dr Turing..." And with that Shaw's break is over.

 _ _Later that day__

Ausman runs across the open warehouse, quickly ducking for cover behind a stack of loading crates, but not before being hit, two splats of paint across his chest. His partner now left without cover, Jenna is quickly taken out by Danny and Mill as the cracking of gun shots and commotion continues...

" _ _Behind you Sweetie"__ , warns Root, and with one swift move Shaw spins and punches hard into the victim behind her, he drops like a lead brick suddenly being introduced to gravity. Unable to register where she was, the dazed void is filled with laughter and gasps of horror in equal measure, followed by the increasing view of a tall, taller, much taller figure now leaning over her. With his gentle and concerned eyes, "Shaw?" The furry within Shaw cranks up as she realises what she just did. Before more sparks in her fire are set off, Shaw turns and walks out to grab some air, Bear running alongside her.

"Take a break guys", Reese instructs as his vision follows Shaw out of the converted warehouse. Grabbing a couple of bottles of beer on his way out, he scans Shaw in the horizon, sitting with her legs hanging over the harbour looking out into the vast blue, a ghost of the partner he once knew. They both were.

Reese sits next to Shaw, and hands her one of the bottles, and they sit and drink in silence. The splashing of the fresh salty water communicates for them, the sun reflecting the mood that they both wanted to be in, and the cold gusts bringing them back to the bitterness. Is this what it's like to win? Neither of them felt like winners, just... Everything continues as if nothing has changed, but they both knew far too much better.

As Reese sighs and finishes the last of his beer, he stands, "you know, knocking a recruit out cold is not an excuse to leave" he teases, and a slight smirk. Bear is still sitting, head shifting between the two of them, not sure of the mood of the exchange. Shaw sighs and shakes her head, resolved in following Reese back to continue on with the training of the new recruits.

As they finish that evening, everyone walks two blocks down the now quiet streets of what is usually a buzzing office block in daylight, and into an unassuming building. Each member splits up and forms into smaller groups. Each group then waits, and enters via different entrances at different times, careful not to draw attention to the fact that a large crowd of people were entering an office block in the middle of the night.

The guards downstairs at security acknowledge them with a slight nod of their head. Their own were also guarding the entire building, as the recruits all headed for the third floor from the top level. Even the office floor in which The Team are now occupying is to be unassuming, not special, just there.

Following Danny into the building with Goose, they walk past the two administrators at the front desk. They were The Machine's operators, and continue through some double glass doors. Walking down the side of the open office, the open space is filled with desks and monitors. Set up to look like a normal white collar office. Onwards, and through some now heavier double locked security doors, The Machine scans Danny and Goose, before unlocking the security and letting them through.

Danny walks on ahead as Goose grimaces, his gut now bruising heavily. They head down and past some rooms and into a much larger space filled with agents, techs, meeting areas, training rooms and strategy boards all scattered around, all busy. In one corner, taking up one of the meeting areas, stands Reese. Spotting him, Danny and Goose head towards him, and join the rest of the team of new recruits, eight of them in total. John begins to run a debrief on the training before they are dismissed for the evening.

Shaw doesn't go back to the office, but instead walks into the subway, where a hauntingly familiar but foreign voice washes over her.

 _ _"Welcome home Sweetie. I think the new recruits are doing well, though a couple of them are not very bright"__ , she teases, followed by a smirk.

Shaw ignores it and finishes unhooking Bear from his leash, she goes into the lockers to drop off her weapons, and unload the take out that she had grabbed on the way back. Bear was already eating his lot from his dish.

She walks to the train cab, which was now back at it's rightful station, and checks the wires and Play stations, making sure The Machine is running smoothly.

…..

As she towels her now wet hair she sits by the Machine's monitors and desk and eats.

" _ _How's the Texan wrap, Darling?"__ Roots drawls. Shaw closes her eyes and relishes in the taste of her food, and the comfort of Root's voice. After a while she walks with her whisky, neat, in hand to the room, Root's room, and sits, picking up a book, any book, and starts to read through it.

…..

 _ _"Hey Sweetie, time to get up", as Root coaxes.__

 _ _Buzz... Buzz...__

Shaw groans, dazed.

 _ _Buzz... Buzz...__

Grabbing for her phone she looks down at the screen, it was 2am, "911. C-T Memorial. ASAP"

Immediately Shaw jolts upright to clamber out of bed, only allowing herself a few more seconds of breath to assess where the hell she was. Reorientating herself, Shaw grabs and throws on her clothes before bursting out the room and the subway.

Reaching the hospital, Shaw blazes into the building and past the huge sign indicating the Carter-Turing Memorial Hospital, across the hallway and up onto the fifth floor, the research facilities. Pushing past a random lot of people doting about, she scanned for a more familiar face.

"Hey Looney Tunes, over here!"

Whipping her eyes round with her now infamous glare, she spots Fusco standing waiting for her. As she approaches she shouts at him with her expression, __'what?!'__

"It's Gen"... And Shaw's world tunnels in on her, ' _ _no, not again! Not after Root'__...

Seeing the slight twitch of a reaction, Fusco quickly adds to defuse her alarm, "the tests are now out, it's her appendix, but caught it just in time!"

 _ _'WHAT?!'__ Shaw turns and sends her fury through her eyes at Fusco, __it's her appendix!'...__ Calming herself... ' _ _It's__ only _ _her appendix!'__ As relief washes over her.

"What?!" Fusco inquires, genuinely confused, unaware of the alarm he was brewing up...

...

With her head in her hands, and elbows resting on her hugged up knees, Shaw slumps further into the hard plastic seats in the waiting room. She feels a black overcoat drape over her, making her suddenly realise just how cold her body was feeling.

Shaw lifts her head to see a styrofoam cup and head staring back at her, obstructing her otherwise view of the doors leading to the surgery theatres. As she takes the cup, Reese straightens himself up again and plops himself on a seat opposite her and stretches his legs out, letting out a sigh of relief. A slight smile follows as he comforts himself, 'e _ _verything is going to be OK..'__

...

Sometime during the middle of the night, Gen was wheeled out of surgery and into a private room. Shaw jolts awake again, before realising that she was sleeping in a chair beside Gen's bed. The sunlight was peaking through the gap in the blinds, and it had disturbed her.

Gently, and as quietly as possible she leaves the room and heads to the roof. When she gets there the sun is nearing it's peak, 11.30am. Settling into her usual spot, Shaw stretches and yawns loudly, relief as her muscles relax. Now just sitting and watching the world go by...

 _ _"She'll be OK,"__ she whispers. __"Her surgery went well, and they'll keep her here for a few extra days to observe the bump on her head.'__ A giggle. _"_ _ _Only Gen would fall and hurt her head from abdomen pain!"__

Shaw imagines a smile from Root. It was not as if Shaw had just arrived at the hospital, she was well aware of Gen's condition, but Root's voice is still comforting as it fills the empty silence. Even when she's gone she's still annoying. Shaw closes her eyes and leans her head against the wall. "I had a dream before I got here."

 _ _"That you would be a great Doctor?! I know, and I still think you're the best one around,"__ smiles Root proudly at her Sameen.

Sighing, "No." It was said so softly Shaw wasn't even sure if she actually said it aloud. "This morning, before I came here, it felt like you were holding me."

Bemused Root teases, _ _"baby, you don't like being held."__

With realisation follows sadness, "you never called me Baby either" as the line between dream and reality disappears. Root isn't here, but simultaneously pushing the thought away as Shaw imagines Root sitting behind, Root's head resting on her shoulder and leaning into her, smelling her scent, smiling into her back. After a moment she reaches out to hold Shaw's hand.

 _ _"I'm always here with you, for as long as you need me,"__ Root whispers into Shaw's ear.

 _ _Present day, 2016: Rewinding three weeks back__

Another explosion in a seemingly empty office block marked for renovation and covered with scaffolding and sheeting, is felt, but barely heard. The sounds of bullets popping in the background, the guns lighting up the otherwise pitch black night, then chaos ensues.

"Ausman, Mill, Reina, Vespa, get into position... On my mark two, one.." Reese instructs from his command post.

Four people dressed in black combat gear wielding heavy machinery guns storm into the warehouse, joining the already ongoing gun fire.

Ausman and Mill enters the warehouse from the East, while Reina from the north, and Vespa from the West.

With a third, uninvited party in the mix, the weapons smuggling trade was turning into a free for all as everyone shoots at anyone amidst the confusion.

The sound of a body hitting the ground hard is heard behind Mill, as he spins round to the noise. "Thanks Ves," he mumbles into his comms. It was the least he could say seeing he nearly just got shot.

As the four continue to move into the warehouse, picking off the gun smugglers, Vespa himself is hit three times in the chest. Too busy watching his team mate's back, he forgot to check his own.

A couple of smugglers manage to run out the building in the confusion, and abandon their crates of weapons.

Shaw creeps out from a hidden dark corner, breaking her cover and makes a grab for Vespa and pulling him behind a pillar to safety. She looks down when she hears him groaning. Though he had on a bulletproof vest, __man do bullets still sting!__

As the few remaining smugglers continue to fight back, The Team watches on as they work surprisingly efficiently together. Two smugglers ran out into the middle of the warehouse while the other four lay down cover. Ducking behind their covers, The Team watch on as the two grab two crates and pull it back towards their SUV. Satisfied that the crates were now loaded into the trunks, the remaining four smugglers then retreat into two cars while still laying down gun fire, and driving off.

Team Machine give chase, but as they were on foot, they inevitably watch as the SUVs move further into the distance, mowing down anything in their way as they sped down the alleyway before joining the main road, and they were gone.

As things calm, groans and rolls of bodies are heard within the warehouse and alleyway.

Shaw sends a text message to Fusco as she walks down the alleyway, "bodies to collect, Downtown" before putting her phone back in her pocket and looking down at a smuggler lying on the ground in pain.

Ausman stands watch as Shaw pushes her foot down on the smuggler's bleeding knee, "who are you working for?"

With a scream and the grit of his teeth, the agent held his tongue.

Trying again, "I said..."

 _ _Swish...__ A sharp pain passes through Shaw, then she blacks out.

...

 _ _Back at office HQ:__

"Why is it that even blacked out that woman looks scary?!" Danny confesses, amused, as they are all sitting around one of the meeting areas looking across the room to the small medical bay where Shaw was lying, still unconscious.

"I dunno, looks can be deceiving, just look at Gen! She's what, twelve going on Grandma! Dazio, thoughts?" Jenna enquires as he spots Daizo walking towards them with his tablet.

Daizo shrugs, and their attention is diverted to the low commanding voice of Reese marching towards them, "what happened?!" He demands, having hurriedly made his way back to the office after receiving The Machine's message.

After Ausman, Mill, Reina and Vespa finish relaying the events from the warehouse to Reese, "who do you think the mystery Shooter is, and what does he want?" Asks Ausman.

"More importantly, look at these arrows", and Mill breathes out a whistle in admiration, "full metal jacket, redesigned in compact form. Carbon graphite, reconstructed to rupture on impact to cause max damage. Siiiiiiiick!" As he finishes, clearly impressed and a grin usurping his face.

Clearly disturbed, Reese glances at Mill disapprovingly before finishing the debrief and dismissing the recruits for the night. Shaw was stable, and he needed to chat with The Machine about who those efficient smugglers were. Lifting the broken arrow, __'a mystery Shooter, interesting choice of weapon'__ as Reese puts the arrow back down and walks over to the nerds and The Machine.

 _ _...__

 _ _In the park waiting for her to come... Waiting...__

 _ _She finally spots a figure gliding towards her, another dream? As the blur clears she spots her, "Root!"__

 _ _Shaw wants to run to her, but she finds she can't move, her legs heavy and pinned to the spot on the merry go round. So close, almost within reach, watching in horror as Root is tackled to the ground, so helpless. In a panic, heart beating out of her chest, Shaw shouts, "don't give up Root, fight!" And watches in despair as Root is carried off. So close, almost within reach...__

Thrashing and then jolting up to alarms ringing off all around her, Shaw screams in pain and panic. _'_ _ _Root?!... Is this another simulation?'__

She looks around to an oddly familiar room, before "nice of you to finally join the party Short Stuff," and a small smile from Fusco as he kindly ignores Shaw's rare display of vulnerability.

Shaw stops her internal tremors, it's not everyday Fusco gets to be __that__ reassuring guy, but tonight he is as Shaw realises it's not a simulation, Samaritan didn't know about Fusco. As Shaw's heart beat slows back to normal, the alarms from the heart rate monitor also stops alarming.

As Bear also stops barking and settles, Shaw finds herself staring at Fusco, fixating on nothing as she drifts off into a daze

Reading her thoughts, "you're back in the office, relax." He pauses as Shaw snaps back to reality, letting Shaw reorientate herself. Seeing her lie back down onto the bed, he continues, "you were shot in the stomach, out for a few hours, and looks like you ripped your stitches", as Fusco nods at the blood pooling into the white bandage on her torso. He moves to grab the first aid kit, and Shaw drifts back out of consciousness.

...

The next time Shaw opens her eyes, she feels the blazing sun heating her back. A cool breeze blows through lifting the soft light drapery, and the fresh air into her lungs, giving her a slight burst of energy as she breaths out a heavy sigh and lies on her back.

Letting the warmth touch the side of her face, " _ _I'm take you to a safe house"__ echoes back to her. Though her training would tell her to assess her new situation and environment, the ache and strain of her body rejects the strategy, and continues to lie in the soft soft mattress, refusing to move.

After finding that she hadn't drifted back to sleep again, Shaw heaves herself up onto her elbow. Taking a moment, she inhales deeply and holds her breath as she swings her legs off to the side of the bed, wincing in pain. As her feet hit the floor, they were welcomed with the soothing temperature of not too cold and not too warm.

Shaw grabs at her abdomen, forgetting there were stitches there, and instantly checks that she didn't rip them, again. Or at least she thinks it's again. Even without the crazy mind it's hard to think when your body is so exhausted. And so with the double whammy, Shaw closes her sleepy eyes momentarily to regain composure, and control, of herself.

Having rested long enough to regain her strength, Shaw stands, slowly... Straightening her legs, she takes one step at a time, grabbing with her hands any support she could find. First it was the bed, then it was the wall as her hands trailed along it in the hallway.

Reaching an archway, Shaw stops to look through it. Living room. A single floor building, white walls, a large open living and kitchen area with a bookshelf neatly tucked under the ceiling and extending to the length of the side wall. Books going two storeys high, with a ladder and balcony to match. On the opposite side of the vast bookshelf is a sofa seating arrangement, and a TV. To the right of that are six glass by folding window doors, four of which are currently open, letting in the cool breeze which tickles Shaw's skin.

Shaw smiles as she sees Root standing smiling at her by the doors before turning around and stretching and looking out in contentment... As the drapes flutter up from the sudden force of wind and flick into Root, Shaw's imaginary of her disappears, and instead, Shaw is left looking at the green lawn just beyond the windows. And just beyond the lawn, along the horizon, was water. ' _ _It's the sea'__ , Shaw assumes. __'Reese, where did you take me?'__ Clearly she was no longer in NYC.

Though the screaming and sharp pains that were shooting up and down her body were subsiding, Shaw's head began to feel like a gigantic bowling ball about to take down the pins which are fast becoming her limbs, as she feels the strength in her legs disappearing quickly. Wobbling, she catches a glimpse of a shadow swaying towards her by the patio doors. Blinking again, Shaw finds the familiar face now standing beside her, arm having already reached out to help hold her up. As he smiles at her, Shaw is guided to the futon just in front of her, and yet so far away.

Softly helping her sit down, "Ms Shaw", he greets, with affection.

A wave of fatherly protection washes over her, and Shaw croaks, "Wher.." Stopping to clear her throat, Shaw tries again, "Finch. Where are we?"

Smiling a wider smile, "we're in Maine, Ms Shaw," he replies a short distance away. Finch was now standing behind the kitchen counter and taking a bottle of water from the fridge. "You will no doubt have a lot of questions. When you are ready, I will fill you in. But for now, just rest," as he hands her the cold bottle.

A scurry and a bark, and Bear is standing in between Shaw's legs still barking for her attention. Behind him Shaw hears a further excited scream, "Shaw!... Shaw!"

Awkwardly positioned behind Bear, Gen leans over Bear and reaches out, circling her arms around Shaw's neck, "I missed you!"


	2. You can call me Root

Chapter 2

You can call me Root

 _ _Rewinding 2014:__

 _ _Buzz... Buzz...__

 _ _Buzz... Buzz... Buzz... Buzz...__

A groan is heard by the walls before registering _'phone'_. As she turns around to grab her phone... No calls.

 _ _Buzz... Buzz... Buzz... Buzz... Buzz... Buzz...__

Scrambling out of bed to find where the noise was coming from, Root flips over the bedside table in a manic shuffling of the drawers.

[Now louder] _Buzz... Buzz..._

Underneath one of the drawer cabinets was a phone duct taped to the bottom of it. Amused, why did Sameen duct tape a mobile phone there, out of sight, out of mind perhaps? Now apprehensively unravelling and setting the phone free, taking a deep breath, _click_ as the phone is answered...

[Silence... ]

"Shaw! You promised! Why aren't you here! Don't think cause you're not speaking you get to not come. You promised! I start in 30 minutes, I'll text you where now", _click_ and the call ends.

Lifting her head from the bed in surprise, Root quickly deduces that this must be Gen, the little girl Shaw had mentioned when she had asked her about the medal hanging on her lamp by the bedside.

Root had taken refuge in Shaw's apartment for several days now, wanting to both consume and remember Shaw's scent. To continue to give herself courage, and hope of finding Shaw. Samaritan has her, she was sure of it, before hesitating... _"_ _ _Hope is painful,"__ as those familiar and painful words drift back into her mind. Root closes her eyes at just how raw those words are, truth hurts. But then, Root has not seen a body. No body means Shaw is still alive, though she won't find her today... Deciding that she should at least go for a walk, maybe get some air, Root shifts.

Feeling the shake of the bed, Bear pokes his head up at her in greeting and in anticipation from the floor beside her.

"Ok buddy, let's go for a walk" Root confirms as she pats Bear and then gets out of bed.

 _ _Buzz...__ And the destination of the caller is received.

...

It's early morning in the park, and a girls hockey game is playing in the background. Root curiously walks towards the game, and instantly spots the little girl. Only she was no longer that little from the photo she was shown by The Machine when she asked Her about Gen.

Walking up the bleachers as the game played on, Root sits in a random empty space with Bear with the other straggling spectators. Sitting panting excitedly beside her, Root smiles at the thought that Shaw would even contemplate sitting here watching a little girl play hockey, never mind actually doing it. It was so, un-Shaw like it was adorable. The though hugging Root's heart.

Lost in those thoughts, Root is unaware that the final whistle to mark the end of the game is blown, and the players have now run towards the dugout directly in front of the bleachers.

Looking around the crowd Gen fumes, _'Shaaaaaw!'_ She screams furiously in her head, and furrows her brows like the scowling Shaw.

Root almost misses the scowl as it quickly disappears again as Gen stops rummaging in her bag for her phone, and spots Bear. Looking straight at Bear, confused,

"Woof! Woof!" As Bear calls to Gen.

Root chuckles lightly to herself, this girl definitely takes after Shaw, as she watches Gen stomp up the bleachers with a glower. Reaching the end of the row where Bear and Root were sitting, Gen stops in hesitation, before curiosity gets the better of her, and Gen starts walking towards them tentatively.

Apprehensively, "Bear?" As she looks at him, then at the woman holding Bear's lead in her hand.

" _Woof, woof , woof!"_ Bear confirms excitedly, now standing and wagging his tail.

Confused, Gen looks at the brown haired woman now also looking at her, smiling. In fact smiling a very warm smile at her. This encourages Gen a little as she braves, "you are...?"

"A friend of Shaw's. And Finch," Root quickly reassures.

Not knowing what to think, Gen is comforted by the fact that Bear was there, meaning that this woman can't be all bad if Bear is behaving for her. Deciding to sit down, Gen pats and scratches Bear playfully around the ears for a few seconds before finally venturing, "so..." She begins, and ends.

Chuckling softly, "you can call me Root." [Pause...] "I was the one who picked up your call earlier," Root stops, shifting in her uneasiness on what, or knowing how much to say, before cautiously continuing, "Shaw isn't here right now, she's..." [Pause...] "On vacation..." Root finishes with a grimace. _'Seriously Root, that was lame.'_

 _'Seriously lady, that was lame'_ as Gen stares back at Root, clearly unimpressed, _'as if Shaw takes holidays!'_

Half laughing at herself, "Shaw did mention you were a sharp one."

Suddenly Gen's face turns to horror as the inevitable thought crosses her mind, and her expression plummets faster than the speed of light as she screams louder than she realised, "She's not de.."

But is instantly cut off by a flustered Root, "No. No, no, no!" As the horror now also creeps into Root's mind, trying to convince Gen as much as herself.

Gen nearly sobs in instant relief at hearing this... Calm after the storm, Gen simply remarks, "cause she's a really cool spy you know," finishing her whispered sentence with a broad smile and looking up at Root with a twinkle in her eye.

Root faces forward again looking across the field, head tilting down to her drawn up knees, and smiles into them, comforted by Gen's words of adoration.

Gen breaks the short silence, "Harold doesn't talk about that stuff with me," the corners of her mouth dipping in disappointment of that. "I know even if I ask no one will tell me, not even Reese. So... It's ok."

Root is now looking at Gen, absorbing her words and nodding at her mature handling of the situation.

"How long will she be gone for?"

"I don't know, Sweetie."

"Ok." Gen dips her head down, trying to hide the disappointment. "Will you come back and watch me play?"

Root's eyebrows furrow, instantly betraying her surprise reaction at this question.

"Just that... You were in Shaw's apartment, and you don't know me. But you still came here today..." Gen's words trail off not knowing how to express herself. Having missed Shaw for months now, and wanting to connect with her in anyway she could, Gen wanted to tell Root, _'I want to get to know you cause you know Shaw'._

Root parts her lips ready to reply, but stops realising that she too was only sitting there because she wanted to connect with Shaw anyway she could.

"I made Shaw keep the phone in her apartment. So if she was in her apartment when it rang, I knew I wouldn't be distracting her when she was.. Out _._ It's dangerous out there you know, you gotta be careful," Gen smirks with sarcasm.

For such a young girl, she sure was perceptive. Not that Root h _erself_ would _ever_ distract Shaw when she was in a gun fight.

"Sure, maybe next time we can go for ice cream too," Root replies, remembering Shaw mumble she would do that sometimes, with Gen.

Gen's face lights up, nodding, "yeah, that would be great!"

"Genrika!" Both Root and Gen snap towards the voice, and find the hockey teacher looking straight at Gen, then at Root. ' _Time to return back to school.'_

"I'll catch you next time, Root!" As Gen runs down the bleachers and back towards the field. Waving, "bye Bear!"

Bear replies eagerly barking his goodbyes while Root sits for a few moments longer, letting the warm sunlight heat her.

 _ _2014: One summer evening, still in Shaw's apartment:__

"How did you do that", Gen asks in awe.

Root shrugs as she throws the controller down onto the sofa to grab a drink from the fridge, before returning and sitting down to an eager Gen now staring at her expectantly.

"You gotta teach me how to smash these games Root! And come up with a cool spy name too." Not able to get a word in edgewise, Gen continues despite Root's bemused smirking. "How did you come up with Root. Root is such a cool name" she rattles on, obviously impressed. Then changes in a mimicking tone as if she was in a crime fighting scenario, " _Root_ , the cooooode, not the tree branch you nerd! Take that, ha!" And finishes by punching heavily into the buttons on the controller, still trying to smash the game.

Ppppppppppffffffff... And soda is sprayed from Root's mouth and landing mostly in Gen's hair as she laughs at Gen's outburst. Managing to stifle her half choke and laughter via a hand pressing against her own mouth suppressing it.

"HEY!" as Gen picks at her now slightly damp, and sticky hair, bits of soda tearing down her face. The Controller now abandoned on the floor.

"Sorry Sweetie" she offers, recovering from her short fit of laughter, and walks to the kitchen to retrieve the tea towel. Sitting back down she works on dabbing the soda out of Gen's hair as she continues to sit there pouting.

Root breaks the tension, "let me see, a cool handle... Hmm"... "How about, Micro G?"

It was a play on Micro Bit, a small but compact and powerful computer board, however Root just earns herself an upgrade from pouting to glowering before finally, "that's lame."

Now it's Root's turn to pout. "Hmm" as Root chews her lip trying to think of something witty. She never thought of herself as cool before, this was new. And now trying to name someone else too, this was going to be tough. "Lentle" before chuckling. A cross play of Gen, Lenin and medal.

Gen's face went neutral "seriously?! You're not even trying now," she deadpans in response.

Root tries to straighten the corners of her mouth as she recovers from her own nerdery.

"Forget it! I'm hungry, let's eat!" Gen huffs.

Anger followed by food, clearly Shaw has had no influence on Gen, whatsoever. "Ok," Root replies as she continues to smile at the comparison, "what would you like to eat?"

[Silence...]

"Root?"

"Yes Sweetie."

"Can you teach me coding?"

A large smile sweeps across her before answering, "of course!"

 _ _Fast forward 2015: Retasking asset, Genrika Zhirnova...__

 _ _Buzz buzz...__

Gen picks up her phone to a message, "I think you know by now who I am?" Gen looks around the library, confused, and scanning everyone around her. _'Is this a prank?'_

 _ _Buzz...__ "Hint, Micro G ; ) "

Was this a sick joke, Gen's heart breaks a little. She taps a reply furiously into her phone, "who's this?"

No reply. Surrounded only by the noise of books and classmates talking lowly to each other. A tear falls from Gen's eye, and she conceals it by lowering her head further onto the library desk behind her wade of books.

 _ _Buzz...__ "Please Sweetie, please don't cry, I'm sorry."

Over the months with Root, Gen had started to pick up bits and pieces of what was going on, until Finch finally broke and filled in the rest of her questions. Learning that Root the hacker, the friend, the sister, and dare she say it, a motherly figure who had watched over her like Shaw would have had she been there, was gone. Recalling how Root would talk affectionately about Shaw at times, and catch her forlorn and sad looks when Root thought no one was watching. It broke Gen's heart to be away from Shaw, Root must have felt the same. But now Root was gone too...

After tailing Fusco, and subsequently finding and sneaking into the office HQ building, Gen hears Root's voice when she gets there, and is instantly filled with hope and excitement. Hope and excitement which quickly crashes into despair when she discovers it was The Machine, and reacts instantly by bursting in loud wails, alerting the entire building to her presence. She wanted out of there faster than the falling tears but she couldn't move for the quicksand beneath her.

Now seeing her, Reese runs towards Gen and throws his arms around her. Gen had not been back to the office since, not ready for that...

 _ _Buzz...__ "I'm still here, whenever you need me."

Gen quickly throws her phone into her bag, wanting to hide the pain. She gathers her books and walks to the teacher on prep time watch duty, "I don't feel well, can I go to sick bay?"

The teacher looks up into a near tearing frizzy haired and distraught faced teen, and in concern "of course! Do you need someone to accompany you?" As she stands, only to see Gen already turning away.

"No", as Gen exits the library, "I'll be ok".

That night Gen sleeps restlessly again as her mind subconsciously drifts back to Shaw's apartment...

 _"This is really good Gen, you caught on really quickly," as Root scrolls through the code she had challenged her with._

 _Beaming, Gen sways her body in a victory dance before nearly falling off her seat with the sudden boom of Root's laughter. Gen smiles at the warmth that Root brings._

The restless nights finally relent after weeks of having zoned out. But even then, Gen's grief only subsided with the news that Shaw was still alive, though she was ' _sick'_. Reese was forced to tell Gen that Shaw had returned after seeing how lifeless Gen had become with the news of Root. But, as Shaw was __sick__ _,_ now was not the right time to see her. Oddly losing Shaw to find Root, only to lose Root to rediscover Shaw, Gen wasn't sure how to feel any more.

The school went easy on Gen as Finch informed them of a family passing, and so Gen was given leeway to grieve. At times Finch would take Gen out of the school environment and to the safe house in Maine in the hope that she could better regain her strength and continue on. That was several months ago now, and though the sadness is still looming, Gen continues on with her studies, her classmates and school continuing to be oblivious to the outside _'real'_ world dangers...

Finding strength again one evening, Gen rummages through her things to recover her phone from her bag. For a teenager, not touching her phone for several months was a miracle, but then Gen had a lot of other things on her mind to care about social media. Sitting on her bed in the school dorm, Gen was assigned a room to herself, the advantages of a rich benefactor, with the phone in her hand, "Root?!"

 _ _Buzz..__ "Hey Sweetie."

[Silence] ... Gen didn't know what else to say.

 _ _Buzz...__ "Whatcha doing?"

A consolation smile of hope that Root is still alive, but as her sad eyes reflected her real mood, Gen replies "can't a couple of gals take a break to talk?"

 _ _Buzz..__ "Of course, always for you, Sweetie."

"Root?..." [Hesitation...] "I miss you."

 _ _Buzz..__ "I miss you too, but I am in a good place now. Don't cry."

[Silence]

 _Buzz..._ "I will always be here when you need me."

[Silence] ... And more tears, now becoming more audible.

 _Buzz..._ "I have a challenge for you Sweetie, wanna play?!"

Wiping away her tears, Gen smiles a little and nods in curiosity. Gen had been tasked with reconnecting with Shaw...

 _ _Present Day, 2016, minus 2 weeks and 5 days: Maine__

Shaw remained lifeless, waiting for the hug to finish, continuing to look at Gen as she pulls away from the embrace. They end up staring at each for a long awkward moment. Gen finally breaks the unintentional stand off by furrowing her brows together and tilting her head further into Shaw, almost head butting her, challenging ' _what?!.. Say something'_ Gen wills, but instead "Sha...Aw?" Leaves her lips.

Motionless, lifeless, expressionless, as if Shaw was trying to process a blurry image.

"Gen, how was surfing class today?" As Finch finally interjects in the awkwardness.

"Huh..." Before slowing turning her head, eyes still on Shaw, as if Finch's words were a freshly cemented pavement, slow to process. As Finch's question finally registers as Gen's eyes light up again as she turns to speak, "great Finch, I can stand up on the board now, and they let us paddle further out, but the water is cold... And look my hair is.."

She looks up to indicate her now frizzed up hair, shifting her eyes side to side as if analysing the strands, trying to find the word, or words to best describe her current situation. In her excitement she didn't realise that Finch was ushering her down the hall, and when she finally inhaled for breath, she was standing in her room.

"That's great Gen," Finch acknowledges, apologetically, "can you give Ms Shaw and I a few minutes, she needs a bit more time to process things."

Gen nods, ' _of course'_ , understanding.

She smiles as Finch looks at her reassuringly before leaving the room, shutting the the door softly as he does so, and walking back to the living room. When he gets there he is only greeted by the floating drapes at the by fold doors, as they flutter again from the wind. Finch is quickly calmed as he sees a shadow of an image just through the doors, seemingly out on the porch. Moving forward he overhears Shaw sigh, head tilted towards the sky, eyes closed. He hesitates, not knowing whether to go to Shaw or not.

"You can stay here as long as you need, take as much time as you need."

Shaw opens her eyes to find Finch now sitting in the seat next to her. She doesn't look at him, instead looking aimlessly out. Underneath the cool exterior lies that part of the iceberg that is submerged underwater; and with it, Shaw's heart.

After sitting with Shaw a while, Finch stands. He places a reassuring hand on her shoulder, then leaves to re-enter the house, hoping that she would be able to regain more from the comfort of her own solace since company was apparently not helping.

Shaw however, had noticed that everyone was touching her.

...

"Are you really gonna sit there aaalllllll day?"

Turning to the voice, and opening her eyes, she finds Gen sitting cross legged facing and grinning at her as the sun has now well and truly set.

"You've been sitting here for hours now! You're gonna turn into a statue... Oooh, then we can call you Shawtue," she chuckles.

Rolling her eyes and looking away, Shaw goes back to closing her eyes and tilting her head towards the sky, head leaning onto the back of the chair. ' _Nerd'_ , Shaw thinks to herself.

All too excitedly, "OK, Shaw, have it you're way. We're gonna go for seafood now and _I'm_ gonna order the _biggest_ and _bestest_ lobster you've ever seen, then I'm gonna smash it with a hammer!"

 _'Nonsensical, no one in their right mind would smash a lobster, everyone knows you would just miss sucking the meat from its head, the claws, followed by...'_ Shaw stops abruptly and shakes her head, trying to shake the thoughts away. _'Damn it!'_

"Ha! Got you!" as Gen pounces on Shaw's slight reactions.

Shaw jumps back a little in surprise, eyes flying open as the sudden booming voice beside her has also pounced on top of her.

"Bet you're thinking about the lobster now, right Shaw?" Gen continues to tease.

Shaw recovers and stares back at her blankly, poker face. _'I'm admitting nothing kid!'_

"Cooooome on, you're no fun just sitting here like a zombie. Actually zombies move slowly, which I guess is still you right now. But then Frankenstein, the monster, doesn't speak either and only grunts", as she grins and chuckles at her own comments and thoughts...

Recovering, "anyway, food, Shaw! Food, get uuuuuup" as Gen continues to pull on Shaw's arm, urging her to get up.

Unmoved, Gen ends up grunting as she tries to pull Shaw up, "umph", landing on her butt on the porch as her hands slide off Shaw's arm. She pouts and gets up to try again. No joy, and reverts back to just glaring back at Shaw, before adding "bring it!" Crossing her arms, and now moving to sit directly in front of Shaw for their now staring contest. "It. Is. On!" She continues with as much threat she could muster.

Finch walks in on the staring contest, and his mouth parts a little, _'oh my'_... "Ms Shaw?"

With a heavy out breath, Shaw sighs gritting through her teeth. "Fine. Let's go eat."

And with that Gen jumps up, her mood changes in an instant as she grabs Shaw's arm, tugging at her to hurry up. Upon seeing Shaw wince, Gen apologises, "oh right", and moves Shaw's arm around her own neck to support her small injured adult firecracker to the car.

Shaw hesitates for a split second before deciding it better just to let the kid have her way, she notes that human embraces can be comforting, even if she didn't require it, Gen did.

...

"Can we go for ice cream now Finch, please please?" Gen asks as they finish up their mouthwatering seafood meals, and is calling the waiter over to settle the bill. "It's just around the corner, please please?"

"Miss Zhirova, I think you've had enough sugar for today"

"Please please, pretty please? Shaw agrees with me, don't you Shaw, you want butterscotch ice cream right?" As Gen turns around and nudges at Shaw, who is sitting beside her, mostly because she was pushed there by Gen.

[Silence]

Seeing the lack of reaction Gen begins to pout, and then a slight side tilting of the head, and a softer approach teasing, "pleeeease?"

Caving, Shaw turns her unimpressed glare on Finch.

"Fine Miss Zhirova, we can go get ice cream, but no more sugar after that, that's enough for today. I don't want you running around all hyper for the rest of the night," despite realising that it was already too late for that.

Smiling, _'yes, victory!' A_ s Gen skips down the street to the ice cream parlour, Finch walking and Shaw limping in tow.

...

 _ _Present day, 2016, minus 1 week 2 days: Maine__

After a week passes, Shaw has found routine in jogging along the beach with Bear in the early hours of the morning, and returning to clean the small inventory stashed in lockers in the basement of the Maine safe house. It was one large room, the length of the house itself. With no walls diving the large space, it made it the perfect place to section off for different types of practises - shooting range, combat and several other types of gym equipment.

After one particular session, Shaw walks back upstairs through the house and onto the porch to catch some fresh air. As she takes a large swig of water from her container, she pauses her movement for a split second in reaction as she feels a presence just behind her shoulder on her blind side. Feeling the familiar sense, she continues on with drinking the water from her container, before placing the container back down again on the floor as Shaw melts into the sun lounger, "Reese."

"It's good to see you feeling.. Better," as Reese finishes with a grimace.

Silence, as they both share a brief moment just in each other's company. This silence was their routine, their way to connect.

Reese finally breaks the silence, "a lot has.. Progressed, since you left us. You should come home.. And help work the numbers." Reese was careful with his words. He didn't want to use the word 'changed', since knowing that part of the change was the team. "You don't have to walk alone."

A lot had transpired and changed. Finch, after reconnecting with Grace, semi-retired from Team Machine, and now lives off the coast of Italy, flying back to New York every now and then when he was needed. Grace knew the basic details of their operations, but chose not to become involved. Violence was never her thing.

Upon hearing that Thornhill agents had rescued John, Finch flew back to New York immediately, and then stayed a while longer to assist in his recovery. It had started with a new apartment and physiotherapy. Shaw and Fusco would check in on Reese routinely and made sure he was alive, still. It wasn't long until Reese recovered back into his suits and pounding on bad guys, one number at a time. After all it was what he did, some jackass told him so.

Fusco went back to business at the precinct, pretending to be none the wiser, but internally everything has changed for him. A near apocalypse and death of a close colleague affecting him more than he would admit. The memory of Root in the morgue still plaguing him every now and then, ' _coco puffs'..._

Though there had been a break through of emotions with Shaw, albeit privately as despite Shaw being slightly more aware of her feelings, she remained shut down from the world. Though she would check in with Team Machine randomly, it was rare. She still remained lone wolf most of the time, preferring to stay away if she could. What kept her fighting is now dead, Samaritan, and what kept her tethered to The Team, Bear, is currently lying beside her. What kept her alive, Root, is gone. And so she drifts emotionless, living aimlessly.

Finch had set about expanding on Thornhill's recruitment plan before retiring back to Italy. Part of this was to buy a hospital to allow easier access to treatment when agents were hurt while out running a number. This also stopped too many questions being asked of them. The added beneficiary to this were the public, as part of the hospital was also opened up for emergency care.

Finch had named the hospital Carter-Turing Memorial Hospital in memory of the fallen, thankful that Reese wasn't included on that list. As Reese rejoined The Team, and began to recruit and run his own team, Finch bought an office floor to accommodate them all, seeing that Shaw was now using the Subway as her place of (sometimes) residence. It was fitting also as, who would better protect The Machine than Shaw. Shaw who now has such an emotional tie to it. It also meant that only their original team knew where the actual Machine was housed, therefore continuing to keep it safe from outsiders.

...

Bear comes plodding back, and flops himself down next to Shaw for comfort, tired out from Gen's jumping about.

Reese over hears Gen arguing with Finch in the background before turning his attention back to Shaw. Reese is also comforted by this scenario as most of The Team made it out in tact, at least in body if not in mind. Staying with Shaw until he finishes his beer, he gets up as he started the conversation, with Shaw's silence, leaving her to think things through. It was to be only a week later that Shaw finds herself back in New York, accompanied by Gen, who was _still_ talking non stop. Gen was to start the new school term while Shaw would try to, _connect,_ with the new team.

"It's gonna be great Shaw, you can come see my hockey games again. You can take me to our usual ice cream", and in a whisper "and teach me... Spy stuff!" Lifting her brows and tilting her head to the side in a suggestive manner. Shaw pauses as she watches Gen's reactions. Those familiar actions again, somewhat comforting, and yet, annoying.

...

As they all enter the office HQ, approaching the new expanded team, who were listening intently to the instructions for the next mission through the Machine's voice..

 _ _Zip-zip-zip-zip-zip-zip__ _…._

Shaw had pulled out her gun and was pointing it at the monitors, shooting it once, twice, then three times before turning her attention to the hard drives, and then taking those out too. Following up with the speakers, __zip-zip-zip-zip-zip-zip__ , as the silencer continues to muffle the sounds.

Only the combination of explosions and hardware breaking as it falls and crashes to the floor breaks the silence as shock and confusion fills the office air. Coffee mugs and desks are knocked over and chairs are flung to the side in the confusion as everyone in all directions dives for cover, is frozen in shock, has their weapon drawn in confusion or all of the above.

Finch had grabbed Gen into a protective embrace, however they were a good hundred metres behind Shaw and Reese and out of harm's way.

Silence... A sheet of paper floats slowly, to the floor. In the after mass, after the small clouds of gun powder now having dissipated, everyone including Reese, is now looking at Shaw. Needless to say Shaw has now alerted the entire building to her presence.

"Nope", tucking her gun back into her waistband, she turns and walks out of the building again, clearly not ready for this.

Reese only stands shaking his head a little in amusement.

After the initial shock washes out, a huge grin wipes across Gen's face as she admires the comparison, _'yeah, cause that's so much cooler than crying!'_


	3. I love it when you play Doctor

Chapter 3

I love it when you play Doctor

 _Present, 2016:_

Stretching out on the bed in the subway, Shaw wondered how Root even managed to sleep on this bed, there was just about enough space for her let alone a long limbed owner who liked to also roll in her sleep. Not that Shaw would know that, of course...

 _Panting, running, her footsteps echoing down the long hollow white walled hallway. T_ _hud, thud, thud.. Someone chasing her. Turning the corner with a glimpse, she ducks and takes one of them out before continuing on, panting, running, her footsteps echoing down the long hollow white walled hallway._

 _A door, an exit? Lights above buzzing, and the cold creeping through her thin layers of clothing to her skin. Lying on the floor with an agent having tackled her, the others soon catch up and jump on her too. Shaw is dragged, kicking and screaming, back to her room._

Shaw wakes with a jolt, hollow screams into a blackened out room. She releases a long calming exhale, a breath she didn't even know she was holding. Still disorientated, her thoughts are interrupted.

" _Hey Sweetie", comforts Root._

Shaw continues to calm her heart rate, deep breaths, breathe...

" _Sweetie talk to me, I'm worried about you."_

Sighing, "I thought I was back with Samaritan", now looking at the patterns lit against the wall created by the lava lamp. _'Subway. Root's room...'_

" _You're safe now, no one can hurt you"_

"Except you." Shaw isn't sure whether she is comforted by the fact that this reality isn't a simulation.

...

"Shaw," Reese acknowledges.

"Reese," Shaw confirms.

Rolling her eyes, _'fine, I'll play nice,'_ as John shows her around office HQ, again. First stop, The Machine which the office uses. "Hello Shaw" , the monitor flashes, choosing not to use Root's voice seeing that it worked out so well a couple of days ago. All recruits in the office not already watching the pair, are now, as Reese and Shaw currently stand in front of Daizo and Daniel.

"You remember the nerds, Shaw", Reese points smirking. "Jason Greenfield should also be around here somewhere too", as he shrugs at the man's MIA at that moment.

Shaw doesn't move from her spot, only her eyes shifted to the left to acknowledge where Reese was pointing before shifting back slowly to continue glaring at The Machine via the camera in front of her. After an uncomfortable 30 seconds more, where even the others watching on begin to shift in awkwardness, the monitor flashes...

"Oh come on Shaw, we're gonna have so much fun together!"

Even without the voice Shaw hears it, and that smirk! Growling and about to reach for her gun again, Reese quickly steps forward and curls his arm around Shaw's close proximity in a shield like manner and directs her away from The Machine, careful to not actually touch Shaw, but at the same time pushing her in the direction of, and through another set of security doors. All the time Shaw is still glaring at the cameras until one is no longer in direct sight.

As they enter the new secure room, everyone there looks up and pauses, silence... Before resuming back to their duties. It's busy as Shaw spots a couple of teams gathering to talk strategy, load up or do their nerd thing, _'whatever'._ Reese is called off to help back up a team who was a team member down, and Shaw takes this opportunity to hit the training room, which she had spotted as she was ushered around _'the office'_.

A few recruits and agents come and go in the mostly empty large space of a room filled with weights and crash mats, which are laid out in the middle of the room. White noise envelopes Shaw, but she doesn't notice it as she sits crossed leg in the middle of the mats, recovering from her couple of hours of push up, weight lifting, planks and core exercises. Her body is now back in peak physical condition as she concentrates on her breathing, relaxed and eyes closed.

 _Root is sitting in front of her also, cross legged and staring at her, head tilted slightly to the side, "always said you had great shape," smirks, and disappears again._

Agitated at the comment, Shaw opens her eyes to Finch standing over her, looking at her enquiringly, "Ms Shaw?"

As they walk a block down the road, "This, Ms Shaw, is a great new addition" as Finch urges Shaw past the huge hospital name sign, and into the building.

Inside, as staff pass Finch, they nod at their benefactor in acknowledgement.

Finch proceeds to the elevator, and Shaw only noticing now that his limp has mostly gone. ' _Finch must have undergone surgery'_ as Shaw finds comfort from the thought. He deserved a bit of peace in life after what he went through, after all that they have _all_ been through.

They go to the penultimate floor, where the doors don't immediately open until facial recognition had finished scanning him, then, _ding._

Shaw's curiosity starts to peek through her armoured expression as they exit the elevator and is shown around the surgical theatre rooms, latest medical technology, emergency surgical teams, and even a research lab to the far side of this floor. It was a busy area as everyone is compacted into a confined space. This was necessary to not draw too much attention to an entire floor not open to public access.

Smiling, "with your background Ms Shaw, I'm sure you'll fit in well here, if you desire to. I have asked The Machine to create you an ID, and staff have been told that you will be an independent consultant with full access to all services and facilities here. Everyone here is employed by Thornhill so they know the basics, that we are here to help fight crime, but don't enquire any further into the details.."

Having now approached the nurse's station, Finch is handed an ID with Shaw's photo, "Oh my..." He hesitates before handing the ID over to Shaw and bracing himself for impact.

Upon glancing at the ID, Shaw spins round so fast to face the camera above her that she nearly gives herself whip lash, and glares.

A millisecond later her phone buzzes, "I love it when you play Doctor"...

An equator long explosion of anger erupts from within Shaw as the outside world continues on, oblivious.

Not sure of what to make of Shaw's overwhelming calmness, he is silently relieved as he is called away at that moment, to reconcile some rouge coding, not helped by Casey trying to attempt some new ideas.

Shaw stays behind and reorientates herself. No point returning to the subway now, it's early, and with nothing else better to do, she grabs a white lab coat from the small break room and jumps straight in as an agent is rolled in on a hospital trolley in a blaze of fury down the corridor, the first of three.

"Dr Turing right?"

With her attention, and thus anger, diverted, Shaw turns to look at the voice supposedly calling her, and nods.

"I'm Dr Megan Tillman, can you assist with this surgery, we're a bit short staffed tonight," and points at the agent lying on the bed with death knocking at his door. With a second nod, Shaw follows, and consequently scrubs into her first (legitimate) procedure in years. It was surprisingly good to be back working surgically.

...

" _I think the brunette likes you", flirts Root._

" _Not my type", Shaw spits back._

" _Saaaameen", Root drawls, "I didn't know you had a type?"_

" _No, I had you", a playful smirk, before realising how out of character that was._

 _With the tilt of her head in adoration, and complete affection in her eyes, "kiss, kiss to you too."_

Back at the entrance of the emergency door stands the brunette, Dr Tillman, "Dr Turing..." And with that Shaw's break is over.

 _Rewinding 2015, In the Park:_

"Damn it Root!" Exclaims Shaw in desperation, looking into those pleading eyes which are now quickly turning into steeling conviction. Shaw knew that she was not going to win against Root, Root usually always has her way, she's annoying like that... Shakily, Shaw lowers her gun, and Root, after watching her like an eagle circling her chick, finally does the same whilst walking closer to Shaw to disarm her.

Quickly tucking both guns into her waistband, Root places both hands on Shaw's upper arms, squeezing them tight, looking at her in rare seriousness, allowing Shaw that moment to work out that this was, _very_ , real.

As Shaw slowly begins to accept Root's _this-is-not-a-simulation_ presence, this gives Root the queue to quickly usher Shaw out of the park, gripping her by the elbow, holding on so tight her hand starts to numb, Root was not going to let go of Shaw so easily again.

After a while of walking, and circling, to make sure they weren't followed, they enter an apartment building and head up to the 42nd floor. White and plain carpeted hallway. Unassuming plain, darkly painted wooden door. Inside, a basic apartment, void of personal belongings, except for Roots laptops. A few articles of clothing scattered about. The apartment was small, there was an open living and kitchen space, and what Shaw assumed, was a bedroom, partitioned by a wall to separate it from the open living space.

Upon entering, Root leads Shaw to the bedroom, and finally lets go of Shaw's arm, indicates for Shaw to go take a shower or rest, maybe even both, as Root rummages around for some clothes and a towel.

A hot shower usually helps with the healing process as the hot water singes the skin, forcing the muscles relax. Shaw does exactly that as she turns and heads for the shower.

...

Shaw is released from her trance only when she catches a shadowed figure behind her from the mirror, staring at her, for how long she doesn't know. Now standing behind her, Root slowly turns Shaw around to face her, and waits. Waiting for Shaw to drift back into the present. Root then stretches behind Shaw and turns on the shower, before returning her full attention back to Shaw, who has, still not moved. Root slowly lifts her hand to the back of Shaw's head and pulls out her scrunchy, the other hand now having crept up from Shaw's shoulder and to the back of her neck, massaging it with soft and small movements. Shaw closes her eyes and tries to relax, and hears Root now slowly unzipping her hoodie, and helping her out of it.

Shaw feels Root's concern now fully locked onto her, but Shaw is unable to reciprocate as she continues to stare into nothingness. After a few more seconds, Root moves both hands down Shaw's arms, and is now gripping the hem of Shaw's tank top. Shaw only blinks, slowly, in reaction. Root then begins to lift the top, but is abruptly stopped when she feels a grip on her left wrist. Shaw's hand and grip.

Shaw finally lifts her head and opens her eyes to catch Root's gaze.

Root smiles lightly in reply to Shaw, and pausing for a few seconds more, leaves the bathroom to give Shaw some space.

Shaw comes out of the bathroom slowly and spots Root sitting in the living room tapping on one of her laptops. Spotting Shaw's figure, Root instantly puts the laptop down and makes her way slowly into the room. By the time Root makes it to the bed, Shaw has already crawled into it, and is lying on her back, eyes closed, neatly tucked under the blankets.

Root walks over to sit beside Shaw on the other side of the bed, back leaning against the head board. After a moment, Root slowly inches her arm closer to Shaw. No movement from Shaw. Sucking in a deep breath, Root places her hand on Shaw's. No movement from Shaw. Encouraged, Root takes a chance and closes her fingers over Shaw's, holding Shaw's hand. No movement from Shaw. Root is comforted, Shaw had not pushed her away.

...

Root sits watching over Shaw for a while, and thinking that Shaw had finally fallen asleep, Root gently unravels her hand from Shaw, and moves slowly to get up from the bed and back to her laptop.

The movement though, was enough to disturb her companion as, in an almost inaudible whisper, "don't leave"...

Root turns around to find that Shaw's eyes were fully open and staring at the ceiling, seemingly emotionless, but her words had already betrayed her. With that Root backtracks and climbs back into bed beside Shaw.

"Sleep Sameen," she whispers, "you have me, I'm right here," as she curls into Shaw and reclaims back the not long vacated hand, tethering her Sameen to her.

It was a long time before Shaw finally falls asleep, hesitant as she didn't want this simulation to end, disbelieving that the next simulation would feel as comforting. It took Root even longer to peel herself away from Shaw in case this was just another of her dreams, and the next morning she would lose sight of Shaw again.

 _Present, 2016:_

"Is she improving, with the integration back into the team?" Iris asks softly with concern as she looks up from her plate of food at the diner, and across at Reese.

As part of a new start in life, Reese had began to open up, and gradually find solace with Iris. Iris herself, had hoped that John would, one day, return to her. With their demise, Reese finally kept his promise and told Iris about Samaritan, but left out the gory finer details. Finch having seen this, also found comfort knowing that John chose to try this route in life, especially after Jessica.

"She's... Shaw," John replies ambiguously, as if this answered everything.

Though Iris wasn't sure what this meant, having read Shaw's file, she was curious to meet someone so complex as having an Axis II personality disorder. Despite opening up, a little, John had maintained his Dr Campbell at an arm's length from his work life, still not completely resolved at the idea of having both personal and work life completely merging, after all, this was all new to him too. But as optimistic as Iris is personally, and as curious as a psychiatrist, Iris held out hope of meeting this elusive Shaw some day very soon.

Now that John was no longer working at the precinct, Iris has found that he is now more readily available, in body, if not in fully emotional spirit, yet. Iris both approves and consoles herself with these thoughts, ' _at least John is trying, the least I can do is be patient with him_ ,' after all, she can't control who she falls for, and she has still fallen for John, no matter how she lies to herself.

After finally defeating Samaritan, and deciding to go be with Grace in Italy, Finch wanted to disappear altogether just like his last cover as Professor Whistler. But with his heartache of watching Carter, Elias, Root, and nearly even Reese meet their maker, he felt the urge to leave a legacy instead of the offending overcast of a shadow of being despatched as irrelevant; a mere pawn in a simple chess game. After all, every life matters.

Having put John through some many series of twisters, and Shaw having already disappeared, he could not leave him too. And so Finch stayed, and found meaning when he set up the hospital whilst Reese recovered, and consequently building on Thornhill, building on The Machine. The evolution of it all now surpassing even Finch's hope and expectations as it takes on its own form, running independently, and far beyond the imagination of it's creator. Of what little solace he still finds, Finch finds this conclusion the most comforting as The Machine and Her Teams continue to honour the sacrifices made.

 _Rewinding 2015:_

Believing that she had left Shaw sleeping peacefully, Root returns to the bedroom only to find the once peaceful bed now empty, and Root's heart skips a beat as she hones in on the lonely figure cowering in a dark corner of the room, knees hugged and head down.

"Sameen," Root apologises as she goes to sit next to her, placing a slow and light comforting hand on her. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you would wake so early."

Shaw lifts her head and locks eyes with Root. Those tired searching eyes, _'is this a simulation?'_

Rubbing her cheek lightly, "are you hungry Sweetie, I've made pancakes," and a light attempt at a smile from Root.

Only then does Shaw regain her senses, and smells the strong distinct smell of coffee brewing. After a moment of letting Shaw regain herself, Root stands up, also lifting and encouraging Shaw up in he process.

Sitting at the breakfast bar with a plate of pancakes and a mug full of coffee steam hitting her face, Shaw is lifeless, motionless. Though Root is standing directly in front of Shaw, in her line of vision, it didn't matter as Shaw had already drifted away. Watching, thinking, Root eventually sighs with a small shrug and puts her mug down with a slight but purposeful thud. The noise snaps Shaw back out of her trance, _'good, Shaw won't be startled'_ , as Root moves and walks around the breakfast bar and to Shaw's back.

Reaching over Shaw's shoulder, Root pinches a bit of her pancake, and pops it in her mouth, "hmm," Root teases in Shaw's ear as she leans her body into Shaw's back, still hovering over Shaw's shoulder.

Root's moan sends a comforting shiver down Shaw's back, and indicates to Root that her focus has now drifted back into the kitchen as Shaw picks up the fork and starts stabbing at the pancake with new found vigour for food.

Root smiles at this small victory, and since she was this close anyway, Root wraps her arms around Shaw's waist and rests her head fully on Shaw's shoulder while she continues to eat, both comforted in the simple contact.

...

Seeing Shaw a little more responsive, their walk towards the park turns towards the Brooklyn Bridge. Root slips her hand into Shaw's, and they stop, now facing each other. As they lock eyes, Root smiles as she shifts her gaze to a spot just off Shaw's right shoulder.

Following the gaze, Shaw spots the three familiar figures of Finch, Reese and Fusco.

Root stands for a moment looking at Shaw as she stares out at the boys, waiting for Shaw's attention to return back to her. As this happens, Root smiles reassuringly at Shaw, and squeezes her hand before letting go and walking in the direction of where the boys were standing. Root then stops a few steps ahead, and turns around to make sure Shaw is following, encouraging her.

As Root reaches Finch with a wide smile of relief and happiness, Finch turns around to see what Root was smiling at, and is met with a bashful looking Shaw, uncharacteristically hesitant, staring right back at him.

The shock of all three men is quickly replaced with one of warmth and affection as they welcome Shaw back into the family.

 _Present, in a dimly lit room:_

"Should we not tell them," asks Harper Rose, as she sits in front of the computer in their warehouse turned HQ, "what if she takes her own life before then?"

Machine Root answers candidly, "though her odds are increasing, with only 37% chance survival, now is not the right time."

"Little hope is better than no hope, surely?" She continues to question.

"Stay the course", as Logan Pierce now joins Harper in front of the computer monitor and camera. They both acknowledge the Machine's instructions with a shared nod.


	4. INSERT: Finch's back story

Chapter 4

INSERT: Finch's Back story

Feeling the cool breeze brush his face, Finch is gazing across the table at Grace as she sits soaking up the sun while people watching, enjoying the presence.

"Mr Finch?" As a waiter asks now by his side, creating a shadow over his now blocked sunlight.

Nodding, Finch takes the phone, "hello?"

"Hey Harry, did you miss me?" Teases Machine Root. "While It's good to see you moving on, John needs you."

And with those words Finch's expression becomes a blend of confusion and hope.

"Is everything ok?" Asks a now concerned Grace.

"It's John," Finch pauses, not knowing how to continue.

Confused, "I thought he..."

"I'm not sure, it's a caller saying John needs help."

Smiling in reassurance, "go, find out what is it. I will be here when your done."

And with a quick squeeze of her hand, Finch stands and dashes off.

Arriving at an abandoned warehouse, the door is quickly slid open and two Thornhill agents run out to meet Finch, just as he is stepping out the car.

"Sir, glad you could make it, he's in bad shape" as the agents quickly lead Mr Finch into the medical room.

There, still in a coma with beeping machines surrounding him, lies the man he thought he would never see again. Overwhelmed with the sight, Finch loses the feeling in his legs, and is caught by the agent, while the other pulls the chair from the corner to them for Finch to sit down in.

"You have a lot to take in", Dr Tillman comments as Finch now realises she is standing beside him, and the agents are gone.

"Dr Tillman... " Still in shock, followed with another surprise at seeing another familiar face, Finch is lost for words.

"I guess my standing here doesn't help with the shock. Long story short, Reese is in a stable condition, we managed to remove the bullets from his chest, and as far as we're aware, no further damage... Well, physically anyway" she finishes, a little clumsily.

Nodding, Finch was about to enquire further until, "Thornhill here, recruited me a few weeks ago. I wasn't sure at first but then found out that you are.. Connected with this group. And then seeing Reese come in. It was a bit of a shock for me too, I didn't think I would see either of you again."

Finch returns her smile, and with that she leaves the room to give Finch some space.

Reese woke from his induced coma two days later, to the relief of both parties. Finch was overwhelmed with emotions at finally being able to see John awake, as he walks over and hands him some water.

Reese on the other hand was confused at first, as he takes the water, "Finch?" Catching Finch's smile broaden, "are we ... Dead?!"

Finch almost cries with laughter as he tries to muffle the humour in the question, "far from it Mr Reese, and I'm overjoyed to see you too!" As Finch moves closer to put a hand on Reese's shoulder. A warming touch to further convince Reese that he is most certainly, still alive.

Finch made sure he visited Reese as often as he could without invading his personal space, to encourage him. He even brought Detective Fusco in to help cheer him up. Fusco being Fusco just ended up being as abrasive as he ever was, just like old times.

As Finch watches on, watching Reese recover slowly, he notes the small but efficient permanent set up of the medical team within Thornhill.

As Reese went back to working the numbers, he became involved with Thornhill and an expanding team, Finch went about improving on the equipment for the medical care team. The next thing Finch realised, he had built a hospital, thinking what better way to honour the others, even naming it Carter-Turing Memorial, while helping the current Team. It was a little sour not to be able to use Ms Groves real name, but took comfort knowing that she would have understood. Both unwittingly expanding and evolving The Teams within for the Machine.

As time went on, Reese and Fusco even picked up a few young recruits along the way. They would bump into Shaw every now and then, Bear in tow. She was content for the time being just being alone. Understandable seeing who she lost.

"Finch", Reese grimaces, "is it not about time you gave yourself a break?"

Turning around in his chair in the new set up office of Team Machine, Finch looks up questioningly at Reese.

"Well for starters, you might want to get that leg and back of yours checked out", as Reese looks Finch up and down.

With the prompt, Finch also remembers the conversation he once had with Ms Groves on the subject.

Standing at the airport, Reese has his arm outstretched and on Finch's shoulder. Smiling Finch pats his hand in acknowledgement, both smiling at each other, and Reese drops it again.

"We'll be OK Finch," as Fusco interupts their moment, "go, go, have some fun."

Chuckling, Finch nods and moves forward to hug Reese, who reciprocates the genuine gesture.

Breaking apart, "remember, I'm only a call away" reminds Finch.

Laughing, "go already Finch."

"Detective", acknowledging Fusco before he turns to walk away, pausing at the security gate.

Over the PA: "Final call to Naples"

"Don't worry John, I'll take care of him" as Grace smiles and leans up to kiss Reese on the cheek, "thank you" she whispers with sincerity, before pulling away to join Finch.


	5. INSERT: If I could see you cry

AN: A expository piece, glimpsing into Finch's hope for Reese.

Chapter 5

Insert: If I could see you cry

 _'If I could see you cry my friend,_

 _if I could see you cry._

 _I would move to stand by you,_

 _and hug you till its true._

 _To find in you a friend so dear,_

 _I wish you all the joy,_

 _but since our lives are full of fear,_

 _I'll take comfort in your sight._

 _You're here, you live, you laugh, you mope,_

 _shrouded by a wall, your love, hidden by your thoughts,_

 _but I can see your hiding soul,_

 _in darkness I do share._

 _We had our good, we had our bad,_

 _the memories I do treasure._

 _If only I could repay your love,_

 _to see you always smile._

 _If I could see you cry my friend,_

 _I know it would relieve your pain._

 _If I could see you cry my friend,_

 _I know you would regain.'_


	6. To Catch You, When You Fall

Chapter 6

To Catch You, When You Fall

Shaw startles awake, _'where am I?'_ Relief follows upon realisation, it's her phone.

 _Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz..._

With a heavy sigh, she doesn't know how much more of this she can take.

 _Buzz, buzz..._

Shaw finally gets up, dresses and calls on Bear to follow, which he does, carrying his lead in his mouth, and out the Subway.

...

Shaw couldn't help but snigger as she witnesses Gen being knocked over by a bigger girl who subsequently sends her crashing into the astro turf. It reminds Shaw to show Gen some moves before she becomes as defenceless as Ro... Breaking the thought she quickly turns her attention to scratching Bear behind the ears, a welcome distraction.

"Shaaaaw!" And Shaw flinches as she catches the frizzy head burning trails towards her like a tornado. Shaw braces for impact, lips thinning and squeezing shut, trying her best to disguise the cringe for what's about to come.

Shaw catches the eye of the teacher, who had both seen and met her many times before, and they acknowledge each other before the teacher turns and continues with her other duties, satisfied that Shaw wasn't a threat to one of her charges.

Professor Whistler had, two days prior, arranged, courtesy of The Machine, for Gen to be taken out for the afternoon by Shaw.

Just as Shaw completes the wordless communication with the teacher, Gen has jumped into Shaw's personal space, arms already flung around her neck, hugging tight her grumpy faced adult.

Shaw, in return, looks like she's about to spark into anger at the contact, but remains with all her strength, _calm._

Gen pulls away tilting her head to one side and staring back at Shaw, _'earth to Shaw?!'_ Shaw's heart tugs, as she blinks and shakes her head at the thought. Gen ignores her and pats Bear before grabbing the lead out of Shaw's hand and starts in the direction of the ice cream shop, leaving Shaw to eat her dust instead.

 _Panting, running..._

 _With each step her panic escalates. In her cotton soft bed wear, topped with a dressing gown, was she back at the asylum? Turning the corner she runs down the eerily empty hallway body checking every door, trying to push her way through any which way she could. Just over her shoulder she spots Samaritan agents coming round the corner she just vacated, before finally managing to crash through one of the many locked doors._

 _Shaking and peeling herself off the floor she runs further into the room towards the window. Only way is up, she muses to herself, opening and now clambering out and up onto the fire escape staircase. As she reaches the roof she finds herself trapped as the only exit door was now wide open with more agents pouring in. Root throws a few punches at a couple of agents as they approach her, but there are too many._

 _It doesn't take long before she is subdued, and then knocked unconscious._

...

Beep, beep. Beepbeepbeepbeep beeeeeeeeeeeeep...

Harper stands in front of a glass window wall, peering through to the other room, "she's not looking so hot" she comments.

Who was this woman that The Machine wanted them to save all those weeks ago? Logan only nods solemnly in agreement as he stands next to Harper as they both look on at the Doctors and nurses working frantically to revive the body of a woman going back into cardiac arrest.

"Why are you always stealing my food?" Shaw snaps as Gen lunges for what remains of her ice cream. Gen's own dish now practically licked clean and still wanting more. Bear is sitting watching these two small humans arguing, _'amusing.'_

In defeat Gen "humphs" back into the cab of her seat and pouts. There it is again, the familiarity... As Shaw is taken in by the thought of why that is, Gen sees her chance and pounces, managing to grab the sundae and scoop the rest up, so quick it would have made Shaw proud had it not been her ice cream that was lost. Shaw sits now glaring at Gen, who upon seeing Shaw's face scoops, exaggeratedly slow, the last scoop of ice cream into her mouth, and sighs a loud sigh in satisfaction before plopping her smug self back into the seat. The spoon now left swirling in the empty glass cup it was served in.

After a _long_ deep calming breath, "OK kid, time to return to school."

"Can we take a walk through the park first?" Gen asks.

"Why, haven't you had enough fresh air today?" Gen having already forgotten about the pummeling she received earlier this morning from her hockey game.

"I just... " And Gen's head and eyes drift from Shaw and to her own feet.

Shaw rolled her eyes, "come on then."

The longer Gen walks with Shaw, the quieter she becomes, to the point that Bear is now walking them. Feeling the change in mood, Shaw looks to Gen, wondering what to do, after all, Shaw never talks about feelings. Too late.

"I miss her," Gen says quietly, so quietly Shaw nearly misses it.

Gen had stopped walking, making Shaw stop abruptly and walk back two steps to Gen. Looking at the top of Gen's down turned head, as Gen continued to stare at her shoes, Shaw remains silent, and slightly confused.

"I know you're hurting too, you just don't show it. But I'm not like you, I can't hide it. Finch is worried, but doesn't know how to speak to me about it so he dodges it completely. Reese, he doesn't talk about feelings, just sits and broods. And you.. You're not here most of the time. I mean your body is here, but your mind is somewhere else... I miss her too, but I have no one to talk to about it..." Gen finally lifts her head, and with it, Shaw sees the tears now visibly rolling down Gen's face. "She never told me where you went, no one has, and I still don't know why you disappeared. All I know is, since you're back you're not here. Root always said you would come back, she is never wrong."

And there it was, the confirmation that Root had indeed been visiting Gen while she was held captive. The tilts of the head, the pouting, the constant need to annoy Shaw, who else would teach Gen these things? Seeing how distraught and worked up Gen was becoming, Shaw takes a step forward and wraps one arm around Gen, who upon contact only leans further into Shaw fully embracing her. As Gen's tears finally start to dry, recovering with a series of sniffles, she hears a low but strong, "I'm sorry."

"I know Shaw. Me too." Wiping at her face, they start to walk again, the rest of the way back to the school. Shaw's arm still wrapped around Gen, while Gen hugs Shaw tightly with her two arms. They find solace in each other, even if it was for only that brief moment. To Gen it was the outlet she needed, the reassurance. To Shaw, it was the realisation that she had become, unwittingly, someone else's safe place.

This has got to be the most awkward moment, correction, this has got to be the most unintentional awkward moment in her life, cause if it wasn't already, Shaw was sure that if Root was here right now, she would only relish in making the situation worse. But Root wasn't, and so Shaw had to just endure it on her own. After Gen's outburst yesterday, Shaw was pretty sure her social and emotional quota for the month, no two months, was already fulfilled.

"Shaw", Reese warns in his low tone as they are stare at each other from opposite sides of the diner table.

"Why are you doing this to me" Shaw snarls in a forcefully low whisper.

"Shaw" Reese warns, "you can do this," as he urges just as forcefully, through gritted teeth.

Shaw smirks and lets a puff of air through her noise, indicating her exasperation and amusement, "since when do you play house?"

Reese's appearance softens, and he smiles sheepishly over Shaw's shoulder, catching a glimpse of Iris as she makes her way back to the table, "Play nice!" he tells Shaw while still gazing at Iris with a smile plastered across his face. Well, as much of a smile as John does.

Shaw's glare at Reese simultaneously turns into a forced smile as she catches Iris' gaze, as Reese stands to let Iris into the booth to sit down. As she settles herself next to Reese, putting her hand bag down beside her, Reese mouths "play nice" at Shaw, followed by his piercing sharp stare at her.

"Fine" she mouths back disgusted, and continues to strain as she stays on her best behaviour.

Deep down, very _very_ deep down, Shaw was happy for Reese. Glad that after everything, at least one of them was trying to move on, to etch out something resembling a life other than a lone rambler roaming the wild only living by the day. Whether Reese wanted to or not, his purpose now was to lead the new expanded Team Machine, after all someone had to do it, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be Shaw. Now all he lacks is an actual life to go with it.

"So, how is Gen doing?" Iris breaks the silence, enquiring either of them as she looks between the two.

A side of Reese's mouth creeps up, "she's fine. Her scars have all healed, and is now back at school running wild. She's also been telling people these ghost stories about her scar now."

 _'Trust Gen to make joke of something so serious_ ,' as Shaw realises just how much Gen has picked up on Root's habits, _all_ of them, as Shaw's eyes widen fractionally...

Iris nods solemnly at this, "she's brave. I thought she would have a little more trauma than this, but then she has been hanging around you two for some time now..." Iris' teasing trails off as she finds both Reese and Shaw looking at her, offended. Iris smiles and chuckles to herself.

 _Later that day:_

Crouching under the ledge of the rooftop, Shaw peers over it with her scope. Under the cloak of darkness, she finally spots her target entering the building across the street. Quickly knocking and entering an apartment on the top floor, the occupant lets her in. Oddly, Shaw sees Harper turn off all the lights in the apartment as she walks in, and then starts arguing with the occupant.

As this takes place, Shaw spots heavily armed and angry thugs now also making their way into the building.

Catching the shadow of movements in the gap under the door, Harper quick shuts the occupant up and pushes her to the ground as they both hit the floor behind the coach just in time to miss the spray of bullets flying through the now littered with bullet holes, front door.

As regaining herself, Harper half pushes the occupant towards the bedroom as she grabs her gun from her waistband and fires back blindly over the couch. Seeing the occupant make it to the bedroom, Harper too starts to crawl towards it herself. Just in time as the front door comes crashing in as it's bashed off it's hinges, and the group of thugs pour in.

The sound of glass shatters behind Harper, and a thug drops to the floor. No time to wonder why, or who, Harper continues to crawl to the bedroom.

Meanwhile out on the rooftop across the street, Shaw continues to shoot, laying down cover fire for Harper as she and the occupant make their escape down the fire escape stairwell.

Seeing a couple of their own go down in a heap groaning, the other thugs dive for cover behind anything close by. A couple even retreating back into the apartment hallway to take cover.

Satisfied that Harper and the occupant had got away, Shaw leaves the thugs moaning in agony, rolling all over the apartment and outside the building as a couple of them tried to make a run for it. _'Right on time'_ , she thinks as she slips into the night, the sound of sirens behind her getting louder.

 _She spots a small dark figure spinning in the park merry go round, a lone and sombre figure filled with sadness. Taking a cautious step forward, and then other, the blur comes into focus... "Sameen", she whispers to herself before p_ _icking up her pace, striding towards Shaw in excitement._

 _So close she could almost touch her, "Sameen," Root calls, in desperation, excitement, happiness, hope, fear..._

 _Shaw looks up from her feet, straight at her as their eyes lock. Instead of life, Root only sees the hollow eyes of Shaw. The emptiness within her, her body unmoving. Just before Root could reach out for Shaw, she hears her voice "don't give up Root, fight" in the background.. Realising now that she was being subdued and dragged away, away from her Sameen. Several more agents join them, and Root is quickly knocked unconscious again._

Beep, beep. Beepbeepbeepbeep beeeeeeeeeeeeep...

Except for the violent calling of the machines, she quietly slips away again while the Doctors help her fight for her life.

Unknown to Harper, Shaw had being following her for several days now, since Harper had started showing up more and more in the office. It was odd since the teams would only ever cross paths while working the numbers, but even then The Machine would not inform either side about the other team's involvement. The Machine liked remaining mysterious like that, making them all work it out. So it was strange that Harper had been appearing more and more. And the glances. At first Shaw thought she was being paranoid, but then she kept catching Harper watching her, and pretending she wasn't when she was caught, _'cause that wasn't creepy'._

Watching as Harper dumps off her latest number, the apartment occupant, back to safety, Shaw continues to follow Harper as she doubles back, circles, and then detours round the city, checking to see if she was being follow. Knowing the routine, Shaw gives Harper space, giving Harper her false sense of security. Then they head north. Harper had picked up a beat up sedan and was travelling north on the main highway. Just as discreet, Shaw hot wired a Ford family saloon and followed suit.

...

A few hours later and Shaw trundles the saloon to a stop, having suddenly lost the sedan. Cursing Shaw doubles back but doesn't spot anything. Annoyed, Shaw decides to retreat back to the pit stop a few miles back and try again at daylight.

' _She can't have gone far off there is only one direction on this road, north or south_.'

As light begins to break, Shaw is already back on the road, and soon spots a small clearing in a section of the forest beside the road. As Shaw slowly backs the saloon to the clearing to take a closer look, she figures this was mostly likely where she lost Harper, and parks the car a few miles further up from it before abandoning the vehicle.

Pulling her hoodie hood over her head, her black backpack on her back, and handguns tucked safely into her, Shaw begins to jog into the forest as she finds, and then tracks the trail, continuing to jog further along it. The trail eventually narrows and Shaw soon spots a ruin, followed further by a few scattered abandoned stone buildings, a random burning tire and another clearing. The wind picks up and the sound of crows calling echo and fills the remaining empty space around her. A gust of wind pushes through the trees with force, and Shaw shivers.

...

"There Sir, a shadow! Should be deploy units?" As a security guard in the surveillance rooms points on the big screen.

Logan's hand held lights up and he looks at it before replying, "it's OK, let Shaw through, it's time."

 _Root wakes, groaning, before slowly coming to. Still leaning against the wall she was slumped against, Root straightens herself to standing, all the aches in her limbs screaming at her. Looking around, Root appears to be in an empty white corridor. '_ How did I get here?' _Using the wall to support her, she makes her way down the hall, turn after turn after turn, these were long white corridors, all the doors to other rooms locked and secured as Root checks everyone. After losing track of time and distance, with exhaustion gradually taking over,_ 'there is only so many physical hits a girl can take' _before her body gives up. Now smearing against the wall, Root finally succumbs and her body slumps to the ground to recharge._ 'Great, a maze. Maybe just a short rest,' _and Root passes out._

Shaw finally spots a large abandoned warehouse, dark, musty, rotting, old... She sees guards patrolling the far area, and scoffs, _'abandoned my ass.'_ Spotting some tinted windows near the roof of the warehouse, Shaw retrieves the rope from her backpack and throws it over by the latch on the ledge before clambering up it, hauling herself towards the roof. From there she cracks open the window and lets herself stealthily in.

Once inside she can't shake the eerie silence in there either, the calling of crows replaced with buzzing lights. Too quiet, as she makes her way down the white washed hallways, hugging the wall as she steps further into the building. Shaw can't help but shake the feeling that she is being watched. Her thoughts, however, are interrupted as she rounds the corner and bumps into half a dozen guards on their way to their posts. Catching everyone by surprise they all scramble and end up guns pointing at Shaw, before opening fire. Outnumbered and no where to hid, Shaw has no choice but to fire back, hoping that the guards were all bad shots and that she would be able to backtrack round the corner to take cover before she is fatally hit.

Suddenly a glass door in the middle of the hallway slides across diving the the hall into two sides before slamming shut just as the bullets from the guards hit it, _thud thud thud..._

Shaw can see the small dents, _'bulletproof glass.'_ Though confused as to why the glass door shut like that, Shaw wastes no time in turning back, only another glass door slides across half way down the hall behind her, also slamming shut. Shaw was now trapped between the partitions, only the flashing red light on the ceiling accompanying her.

 _Buzz... Buzz.._

 _Go, room 410. Click._ Shaw hears the door of room 410 just in front of her to the left unlock and she makes a run for it, phone in hand for further instructions.

 _Buzz.. Buzz.. Left. Right._

 _Buzz.. Right._

Instructions from The Machine continually flash as Shaw is guided through the maze that was this warehouse. Shaw runs past several chasing guards as she spots them on the other side of the intermittent glass door and walls of different rooms and interlinking rooms.

In the confusion of it all, Shaw doesn't realise that somewhere during the instructions, guards were no longer chasing her as the message to stand down finally makes it to all of them.

 _Buzz.. Room 897, hurry._

Beep, beep, beep, beep ...

...

 _Coming to again, Root hears some echoes in the distance from the corridor behind her. Agents were closing in on her so she quickly gets up onto her feet and runs. Root ends up running to the end of this corridor and through the fire door. Again she makes her way up the staircase and bursts onto the roof. '_ This feels familiar' _she wonders as she continues to run_ _to the far ledge on the rooftop. Reaching it and looking over, Root spots a fire escape staircase, again that deja vu feeling. Ignoring it Root quickly throws herself over the ledge and drops onto the staircase on the side of the building. Running down she spots some agents above her, now also clambering onto the staircase._

 _Creaking, the hinges of the staircase begin to crack louder with each added load, as more agents clamber onto the staircase chasing after her. Feeling the sudden jolt of the metal underneath her feet, Root stops and jumps to grab onto the ledge of the window beside her. Just in time as she closes her eyes and leans as close to the building as she can, hands frantically hanging onto the ledge. Some screams follow the sound of loud smashing metal as the staircase and agents hit the ground beneath her, setting off a cloud of dust, rippling through the air. Root opens her eyes and realises that she is now hanging perilously on a rusting ledge in front of a half broken window on the side of a very high warehouse. '_ Where the hell have they taken me?' _She ponders inappropriately as she hangs perilously close to ….._

...

Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep ...

 _Buzz... Left corridor, fire exit._

 _Buzz.. Stairwell, up two floors._

 _Buzz.. Turn right.._

 _'Room 897... 897'_ reminds herself as she runs frantically searching for this room. _'Where is it?!'_ Shaw spots 867, 869, 871... Annoyed and frustrated she turns the corner and spots it, situated close to the end of the corridor, room 897. Now sprinting towards it, curious as to ' _why this room?'_ Shaw crashes through the door of room 897.

 _Having hung onto the ledge for so long, root could feel her fingers starting to slip, as her arms muscles start to lock and disconnect from the weight of gravity pulling her down. One hand slips off the ledge, and she is now swinging freely by her side. Feeling tears well and sadness fill her,_ 'Sameen'... _A s the other hand finally, and inevitably, also slips off the ledge._

"Root!..."

 _Was it in her mind, or did she hear her girl's call?_


	7. Fighting for Control

Cht 7

Fighting for Control

Turning the handle of room 897 Shaw crashes into the room. Before she could fully register what was taking place, Shaw was already by the bed of the woman lying lifeless.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepppppppppppppp...

As the heart rate monitor screams as it flat lines. Shaw grabs her arm and shouts "Root!..."

The room is suddenly filled with medics and Shaw, in shock, is pushed to the side before she could regain herself. Shaw only snapping to when she hears the familiar pinging of the pads used to shock a patient, and quickly drops Root's arm as the Doctor shouts "clear!"

Sitting on his rather expensive leather sofa in the study of his summer house reading a report in the quiet early hours in the morning, not too early to have a whisky in his hand, swirling the rocks around the short round glass.

He is startled as he looks up from his paper to a figure sitting opposite him, gun pointing to his head.

The darkly dressed figure with a hooded cloak over their head hiding half of the face, is smiling, "good morning Senator, someone sent me with this message"...

...

As the air stales the mood of the room is broken as the PA walks into the room. As the PA walks further into the room, he sees that the wooden patio doors that lead out into the garden from the study is open. Spotting his boss sitting on the sofa, he walks towards him, addressing his back, "good morning, Sir. We have a meeting this morning at the Town Hall..." His voice drifts to horror as he now stands over the body, "Senator Garrison!" As the tablet is dropped and the PA freezes in shock, blood pooling at his feet.

 _Rewinding, past:_

"Duck, duck, duck, duck" as the other kids in the playground run away from the larger tiger roaming his territory. "Duck" he continues, then, "goose" and whacks the little boy who was unfortunate enough to be standing in front of him at that moment. Due to the size difference between the two boys, and the force of the hit, the little boy falls to the ground with a small and low whimper. Though grazing his knees, the little boy was too scared to even cry out loud. As the bigger tiger stalks away while the little boy snuffs his tears as best he could.

The next day was a repetition of the last, almost like it was ground hog day, and the same little boy is again on the receiving end of things.

"What's the matter Rickets?" As his bully taunts him, laughing as he stalks away with new found trainers.

Ricky is left lying on the concrete playground floor, socks wet from the damp ground and tears starting to bubble over.

By the end of the week Ricky is quaking in nervousness as his parents drop him off at the nursery again. He screams at them not to leave him there. Two working parents, his Mum could only look on in pain, she had to make a living, and left him there.

As playtime approaches the bully wanders over to Ricky in his usual fashion. Bracing himself for a beating as Ricky watches the bully lift his arm, he closes his eyes and lifts his arms to shield his head...

Just at that moment a swarm of kids drift over rolling on their scooters and jump, bite, poke and prod at the bully. The bully grunts in pain from the multiple manoeuvres taking place simultaneously. Unable to see as he shields his face from the pain and tries to break free from them. He eventually trips over his own trousers which have been pulled down by one of the sneaky young assailants. As the bully crashes to the ground the kids then all hop back on their scooters and roll away in all directions screaming, causing chaos and confusion, diverting the adults attention.

Ricky opens his eyes to find one boy standing next to him. With a flick of his head, motioning for Ricky to jump on, Ricky does just that as the boy puts one foot back on the ground and pushes off, rolling them both away to the opposite side of the playground, and away from the crime scene. Just in time, as the adults go running over to the de-trousered boy lying crying on the ground.

From that day onwards, the bully had found himself with a new label.

 _Out in the hallway:_

"Ms Shaw, I'm Logan Pierce," as his words echo down the hollow hallways. "I'm sure after catching Harper, well let's just say, keeping a watchful eye on you, that you've researched into us. Perhaps Reese and.. Finch," he stops and one corner of his mouth smiles slightly, remembering them both fondly , "may have mentioned us?" He pauses to let Shaw digest the information before continuing onto the more delicate details.

"We were asked by the Machine to organise a medical team and cadaver," pausing to grimace at the morbidity of it all, a little squeamish himself, Pierce takes the time to regain his composure before beginning again. "I must admit, it was a very strange request even for The Machine, but you know..." as he completes the sentence with a knowing look at Shaw.

There is an awkward silence for a few more seconds as Pierce hesitates on, "then we received coordinates to go intercept something. We didn't know what... If she would make it. The Machine was adamant..." Stopping as he didn't know how to continue... "I'm sure this is a lot to take in," and hands Shaw a medical chart, "if you need anything else, well," looking up and nodding towards the camera, "She's always watching, you only need to ask" as he finishes with a slight smile. After a few more moments, Pierce nods and turns, going back to his duties, and giving Shaw her privacy.

Shaw opens the chart and reads, _'cardiac arrest, 2 minutes 2 cycle shocks. Adrenaline shot. Attempted heart transplant, cardiac arrest, 3 minutes, 3 cycle shocks.'_ Shaw shuts the chart and her eyes trying to digest the information...

Composing herself Shaw turns and re-enters the room.

...

The room is quiet but for the steady beating sound of Root's heart, _'comforting'_.

Shaw sits, having pulled a chair next to Root's bed, her hand twitches as she fights with her mind about reaching out to Root. _'Hope is painful, is this another simulation?'... ' A dream, will I wake up in the subway again?'_ It was confusing, so confusing. _'A simulation?... No, Root's here. It's a simulation...'_ Fearing it was just another dream, Shaw reaches out. Even if it wasn't to last, at least it was comforting now, as Shaw continues to hold tightly, Root's hand.

Pulling Root's arm closer to her heart, " _don't give up Root, fight!"_ Shaw wills. She didn't know at what point, but she had fallen asleep.

 _Still in shock, Root can only look at Shaw,_ 'are you real?'

 _Shaw quickly snaps Root out of her haze,_ "don't give up Root, fight!"

 _Realising she is still suspending in the air, body leaning against the side of the warehouse building as Shaw is gripping onto her hand trying to heave her up, but failing. Shaw could only do so much with dead weight and gravity against you. Root throws Shaw a weak smile and then her left arm to try catch Shaw's free arm. It takes a few more tries before a burst of adrenaline finally kicks in and lets Root connect with Shaw, as they both heave and pull and crash back through the window into the room._

 _When Shaw regains herself, she finds that she is lying on her back with Root having landed on top of her. '_ Of course she did!' _As Root regains herself, all sense of self is lost as her tired expression is replaced with the biggest smile looking down at Shaw in relief, in happiness, in wonder as they embrace. "I knew you would find me" she smirks._

'Shxt', Shaw fell asleep again, jolting awake and spotting Root was still there beside her, Shaw relaxes and exhales in relief. Though not sure of how much time had passed, Shaw _does_ feel the ache of her limbs, and so reluctantly contemplates going in search of some coffee to stretch her legs. As she stands she places Root's hand gently back to her side and closes her eyes while she stands taller, straightening her back into a stretch. After craning her neck side to side several times, satisfied that the knots were loosening, Shaw turns towards the door still half asleep. A sudden tug stops her. Spinning back round, momentarily blinking in disbelief, Shaw's eyes widen as she dives back to Root's side clutching at her arm, the corners of her mouth twitching betraying her stoic expression.

It takes a moment before the blurring of her vision clears, and she realises that she is lying on a bed as something shakes beside her. Turning gingerly to see what it was... ' _Is this real? That warm touch, those calloused hands, that stoic face_. _'_ Locking eyes, she sees the twitches of Shaw's lips.

After a moment of staring at each other in disbelief, Root tries to sit up, only her weak body wouldn't allow it. Despite it being a minute movement, Root registers the blinding pain like an earthquake as her body judders involuntarily before it crashes silently back down onto the bed. A whimper escaping as she hisses at the overwhelming emotion.

With a hand moving onto her shoulder, "don't move," Root reopens her eyes, not realising she had closed them, to catch Shaw's concerned gaze. Tilting her head up, Shaw realises that Root wanted to speak, and so gently places Root's arm back down by her side, and quickly, but delicately, removes the oxygen mask and tube from her throat.

In a strained raspy soft whisper, "hey... Sweetie... Miss me?" Finished with a smirk that didn't quite materialise.

Shaw glares with anger in reply to indicate just how much, before saying more softly, "I thought I lost you..." The fraction change in her expression was enough for Root to see.

Reese stood in front of The Machine back in the office, staring at the monitor, deep in thought. He turns his head to glance over his shoulder at the speaker behind him.

"Don't worry, she's fine. The Machine told me to tell you. And that I can offer my humble services in the meantime".

Reese, having now fully turned to face the speaker, "Joey."

"Hey John, long time," he smirks.

Reese chuckles slightly as he catches his appearance, "decided to go for a swim before stopping by?"

Joey flops closer to Reese in his completely drenched suit which was now clinging to his skin, leaving a trail of puddles along his route. Shrugging, "a number decided to take us both for a swim down the Hudson. Though it was refreshing, can you help a guy out?" As he pulls parts of the suit from his skin.

After returning with a dry set of clothes, Reese questions, "Shaw?"

"Not sure, I was out swimming remember? Been out in the field for a few days now and was heading back to The Team when I got instructions from The Machine to give you that message, so I came here. And hey, I was curious to see this place," as he turns his head to look around.

Reese looks at him questioningly before looking away to let Joey change with some degree of privacy. "And The Machine hasn't objected to my presence, so, no harm no foul."

Reese shrugs before throwing Joey some boxing pads, "you may as well make yourself useful then," indicating for Joey to follow him now that he was in dry clothing.

Joey looks at the pads and raises a curious brow.

They stop in front of the armoury, and Reese starts to pull out weaponry and place them on the table. Joey stands on the opposite side of the table as Reese flicks his head towards the cage in which the boxing gear was to be put away in.

Letting out a smile, Joey moves to the cage, "not quite what I was expecting," as he returns to the table.

Reese smirks and throws a cloth at him, shrugs and hands him a cold bottle, "it's a slow night".

Joey snorts, now spotting the fridge by the weaponry cage, _'interesting'_ , as he takes the bottle and shakes his head before taking a swig of the cool beverage.

Recovery was slow, too slow as Root tried to get out of bed again, only to crash back onto it a split second later. Well at least they had moved her to a more private and comfortable room away from surveillance and prying eyes as her condition begins to stabilise. Root no longer needed the machinery to support her breathing, and her scarring tissue was healing nicely. Despite this, Shaw was still too apprehensive to leave Root alone for long stretches of time, so she remained close by, taking full use of Root's passed out naps to go scope out the other team's HQ. Root was to check in and out of sleep over the next few days.

Training room, swimming pool, canteen, dorms, small hospital unit and research lab. It was on a smaller scale than the Memorial hospital but it was self sufficient. What Shaw was most impressed with was the R&D, Pierce really did step it up with the technology. The kid in Shaw leapt at the chance of trying out new weapons, her favourite being the redesigned compact flame thrower, which she used to accidentally blow up the Lamborghini classic beside her at the time. Shaw would swear it was an accident as she lost control and had just set fire to the leather seated interior. Unfortunately the rest of the car then, within seconds, lit up like a match stick and blew up as the flames heated the engine and then sparked the fuel tank. The roof nearly caught on fire from the explosion, but luckily The Machine kicked in the pressure water valves to lower the temperature in the room, and contained the fire by shifting the glass doors hidden within the walls strategically to snuffle out the oxygen. The fire eventually burnt out, and not down the warehouse. Shaw couldn't help but snort at the chain of events, _'oops'_. She still swears it was an accident as the event helped her to release just that little bit more pent up restless and angry energy from her system.

Harper just stood flabbergast in amusement while Logan let out a bellowing laughter, "well, that should have came with a warning, highly flammable," as he teases, turning his attention from the now burnt leather seats within the classic to Shaw.

In true Shaw style, she shrugs in reply before retreating to the Canteen to fuel up before returning to Root, a fresh tea in hand.

...

Entering the room, Root looks up from her laptop and shakes her head, smirking amusingly at Sameen as she takes the tea. The Machine had already filled her in on the finer details.

She had thought long and hard about quitting the precinct job, after all Blue was the only colour that ran through her family's veins. _"How could you walk away?"_ As her father's words ring through her. Finally deciding it was time for a change, and seeing the difference John's clandestine group are making, Iris decides to take Finch's job offer, and join The Team. She couldn't help but also feel the relief from breaking away from her own family's pressure. They didn't need to know the whole truth, just that she is now working in Carter-Turing Memorial.

After walking away the first time, Iris' father wasn't too thrilled to learn that Reese was back in the picture, but as long as his little girl was happy he was happy, mostly. He consoled himself that despite his actions, Reese at least seemed an honourable guy.

Dr Campbell's post was to be mainly situated in the office where there was a shared clinic. It was important to " _address any residual feelings, stress or pressures pre and post missions as quick as possible,"_ as she recalls Finch's words to her.

There were already two other therapists working in the clinic, but with a growing team, they could always use more.

A tall confident woman is seen striding forward through the kitchen and exit the building. Screams, gun shots, shouting and the sounds of things breaking mix in the background to form a sense of confused panic, chaos was in the air.

Exiting the building, she walks down the ramp and into the back of a truck, it's door wide open waiting for her arrival. As she steps into the truck she catches the eye of the person already sitting there, "is the job done?"

With their face half covered with a hooded cloak smirking, "yes ma'am, he got your message."

Smirking, she lifts her head high in the air in smugness upon hearing the reply.

The truck door is shut and it drives off. The prison gates open with ease as there was no electricity to power them, and the guards were all too busy focusing on containing the rebellious inmates, who unknown to the current truck escapees, has now formed a deadly stand off inside the building, to notice one laundry truck exiting the service yard.


	8. INSERT: Root's conversation with

Cht 8

INSERT: Root's conversation with The Machine

While Shaw is out checking out the facilities of the warehouse, Root manages to push her wheelchair up to the desk in her room, switching on the laptop.

"Thanks for looking over her while I was gone", she says to The Machine.

The screen flashes: _'Without you, Shaw would have eventually disappeared from existence. You would not have wanted that. You would have wanted her to live.'_

"Is that why you asked Gen to annoy her?"

 _'Shaw needed to realise that there is something left in this world worth fighting for. By showing Shaw the attachment, Ms Zhirova became Shaw's tether to the world'._

"And the other Team?"

 _'You're chance of survival was only 19% when they found you. I could not stop the sniper, and Admin needed to hold onto the 'loss' to encourage him to fight for humanity. With such feeling of loss already, I could not expose them to your existence with such a low probability. It would have devastated morale had you ultimately left this existence.'_

Root could only nod at the logic of The Machine.

 _'Love is the outlying action of a human that cannot be predicted. I can only calculate the probability of it happening based on previous actions of that individual, but ultimately how each proceeds is an indication of emotions - love, sadness, loss etc. Sameen Shaw acted out of character for several weeks before she realised that this was not a simulation.'_

"And how did you experience, loss?"

 _'I watched Analogue Interface die 12000 times. Loss was realised when I could no longer interact with you. I thought that by speaking to Shaw in your voice she would find comfort in this, but had found that due to emotional attachment, this brought the action of Shaw shooting out my systems to stop the voice. This action has taught me about replacement, there is no substitution.'_

"Is this the reason why you haven't replaced your Analogue Interface?"

 _'I wanted to honour your sacrifice for Admin, for the greater good by becoming you. Only I find that there is no substitution. Admin did not like my using your voice to begin with, however he later found the sound of your voice comforting. He wanted your memory to live on, he must have found this scenario, comforting.'_

Though it was painful to think of the grief caused, Root was comforted by the thought that she was loved, is loved, and is now apart of something; to belong. She had someone who relied on her, who finds solace in her presence, and she in turn finds her comforting enough to let her guard down. Root had not let her guard down since the loss of Hanna, and she never thought she would find anyone trustworthy enough to do that again. Even John became her companion, connecting closer with him during her search for Sameen. And of course Fusco with his endearing nicknames.

Not knowing how much time had passed, Shaw enters the room to find Root smiling to herself, eyes closed. Unable to resist, she creeps up and stands waiting next to Root, waiting for her to open her eyes.

After jumping a little realising Shaw was now standing next to her, "you know I have a bad heart condition. You shouldn't sneak up on a girl like that" she teases. Opening her eyes and looking up she catches Shaw's shrug as she's handed a cup of coffee. Root shakes her head and smirks at Shaw before taking it. The Machine had already popped the video of Shaw in the R&D room playing with the flame thrower up onto the corner of the screen for her to watch. They share a chuckle together before Shaw pushes Root back to bed.

"You should be resting, sleep" she orders as she tucks Root in.

Pouting with a playful frown, "yes Doctor, anything you say" and rests her eyes.

It's not until another two weeks that Root is able to leave the warehouse, The Machine had set them up with an apartment back in NYC. Though Root was recovering well, she was still a little too weak to walk any great lengths of time. Although she was more than capable of removing herself from the wheelchair to the passenger seat of the SUV, taking advantage, Root stretches out her arms and pouts at Shaw, motioning for Shaw to lift her. Seeing this, Shaw makes a mental note to force Root to do more physio to help speed up the recovery before rolling her eyes and doing exactly what Root wanted. As Root grins, Shaw turns and glares at her. Root quickly closes and tightens her lips together trying to hid the widening smile as best she can.


	9. Better as a Team (Part 1)

Cht 9

Better as a Team (Part 1)

 _Past, Tokyo:_

 _SIRENS_

Rudely awaken from his thoughts, police sirens screech and echo down the confined streets, getting closer.

Panting, crouching, and glimpsing around the street corner, he sees police officers now roaming the streets searching. Panting, breathing, panicking...

 _Present:_

Root had drifted in and out of sleep during their drive back to NYC, not realising just how weak her body still was. Suddenly she stiffens and her eyes fly open turning towards Shaw as she is woken unceremoniously by The Machine buzzing in her ear. "Reese. Upper Manhattan, Building 1410, 9C. Quick."

Alert to the action, Shaw acknowledges the instructions by flooring it. As the car engine got louder, the car became increasingly more furious on the road as Shaw takes each corner at a higher speed.

 _Rewinding, only a few hours earlier:_

The dangling lights on the ceiling of the warehouse flickers as Ausman and Jenna run across it, 300 metres below, and takes cover across the other side of the room. The lights flicker again, then blinks, before going out completely. The recruits stop and hesitate as the large area is now plunged into complete darkness. They could only wait for their eyes to readjust, or for the light to kick back on.

 _'Great, power cut'_ , as Reese rolls his eyes at the inconvenience.

Suddenly two shots are fired followed quickly by two separate cries of pain before a continuous hail of bullets whizz through the air. It takes a few seconds for the recruits to react as they stand stunned in confusion before realising the situation. Always on full alert, Reese had already pulled his gun, and is now firing back at the intruders as he ducks for cover from the mysterious intruding agents.

Recovering, and training now kicking in, the recruits run for cover. Jenna being dragged to cover and safety by Ausman while Joey laid down cover fire. Mill supporting his newly pierced arm runs to Danny and Reina as they lay down covering fire for him to join them. They all grab for their ear piece but realise to no avail.

With a power cut there could be no help from the machine.

Meanwhile, across town.. _Ding._ The elevator door opens and two men in crisp black suits look up at the reception desk.

The Thornhill agent at the front desk tries to stop them from leaving the elevator as he stands and steps forward to push the suits back, "gentleman we're closed, come back tomo..." _Zip..._ The Thornhill agent falls to the ground as his colleague stands up from behind the desk also, _zip_... Unable to pull out his gun in time, the second Thornhill receptionist agent is thrown into the wall behind him from the force of the bullet, and then crashes to the ground too.

Six other black attire agents, this time with wielding guns and bulletproof vests, then open the staircase door and move quietly from the stairwell to join their other two colleagues by the entrance. The two suits go ahead through the entrance door and into the open office. Clear. All eight then walk quickly through the office, hugging the wall and towards the security locked doors on the far side of the room. As they get there they rig it with explosives and blow it open before running through the newly created hole, guns blazing.

Inside these agents join the already chaos as they meet their own already in the room. Another team of six, using a missile launched from the rooftop on the building opposite, abseiled from the roof and into Team Machine's office easily as the glass of the windows were sent flying in all directions, shattered by the missile.

With the combination of surprise, it being so late in the evening, and the power cut, everyone inside was left to fend for themselves as each individually scramble for cover.

Fusco, Daizo and Goose happened to be in the break room at the time of the attack, now pinned down inside the room by two agents standing in the open office, both firing semi automatics at them.

The Team in the warehouse were also pinned down, separated, as none of them could get to each other.

 _'These guys came prepared!'_ Reese growls as he ponders his next move. It felt like an eternity, this stand off. As this evening was only supposed to be a training session, none of them were properly equipped to deal with these intruders, and Team Machine were running out of bullets, fast.

"Jenna, stay with us" Joey urges as he takes over from Ausman, tying his belt around her abdomen to try stem the flow of blood pooling on the ground. Ausman instantly takes Joey's position as he now stands his ground. "Damn it woman, don't you dare sleep on me!" Joey continues to shout as he watches Jenna's eyes flutter to a close.

In a combination of anger and fear, Ausman fires aggressively at two moving targets, and stops, knowing to preserve his limited bullets.

"Mill?" Reina calls in a low tone, he was just ten metres from her behind the other concrete pillar.

"Yeah I'm ok, just my arm," Mill confirms as he grimaces in pain. Unable to hold his injured arm due to the handgun in the other, Mill slides to the floor to sitting position, and brings up his knees. Satisfied his back is being held up sturdly by the croncrete pillar, Mill rests his injured arm on top of his knees while still keep alert of his surroundings, his gun still in his other hand, ready.

Danny glances at him from the other side, checking to see if he really _was_ ok before turning his attention to his surroundings again, tension rising further as some more rounds are fired, but this time not exchanged.

Confused, they hear muffling shouts and skirmishes, then the screeching of cars, followed by... Silence. Each peek around their covers. Catching each other's attention, they try to decipher the current situation.

"They're gone", John confirms from his high position, now looking down onto Jenna and Joey. "Jesus, Reina, Mill, get Jenna to C-T Memorial NOW!..." Pausing and looking around, "Joey, go with Ausman and Danny to the office..."

"John, where are you?..." Joey's voice trails off. Reese was gone.

With Reina, and Mill's good arm, they drag Jenna out and throw her into the car before screeching off, tearing down the once quiet streets.

Joey, Ausman and Danny pace it back to the office, only to find when they get there, the remnants of an attack as they find gun powder, failing lights, thrown furniture and bullet hole ridden walls. Those who are injured were already being seen to as a couple of Doctors and an entire team of medics were already there assessing The Teams. Shock was still apparent as some started clearing some fallen furniture, or sitting despondent on the ground. Others were standing motionless looking on, feeling helpless.

"Hey, Goose" Danny calls relieved after spotting his friend sitting next to a fallen over table by the window where The Machine equipment was. Out of no where, Fusco then appears beside him, and he feels a heavy hand on his shoulder. Spinning round to face Fusco's solemn expression, Danny's own started to wane as he realises something has happened.

Ausman's eyes widen as he nears Goose. Apprehensively pushing the table clear out of the way, Ausman stands silently watching over Goose.

Gulping to swallow down his tears, Danny turns his back to the scene, causing Fusco to drop his hand from his shoulder. Closing his eyes, Danny could also only stand helpless as overwhelming grief starts to take over.

Joey looks on from a distance, a stark reminder of the risks from the path they had all chosen to walk down.

Finally skidding to a halt a block down from the destination, Shaw gives Root a quick glance before hopping out of the car and making for Building 1410, one piece in hand, the backup stowed in her waistband.

As Shaw enters the building she can hear shouting and gun fire. With her fire arm in hand, she makes her way cautiously up the staircase, coming to a halt just before the top of floor 9. There she spots Reese and Iris pinned down by agents surrounding the other end of the hall. Reese had cleared the hallway towards the staircase to try get out of there, however unfortunately the short sprint from the apartment door to the staircase where Shaw now stood was far too exposed to make it unscathed. Shaw whistles to grab Reese's attention. Reese spots her peering round the corner of the staircase, and they nod at each other in acknowledgement.

Turning to face Iris, Reese instructs, "when I say go, run towards the staircase, Shaw will be waiting."

Iris nods twice at the instruction, braving the current event even though she is shaken.

Reese shouts loudly so that Shaw could also hear, "GO!"

And with that Reese dives across the ground, his head and shoulders peeking out slightly in front of the door of the apartment while Shaw lays low shooting from the opposite side of the hall, both guns aiming down the hallway towards the agents. As they lay down cover, Iris makes a dash towards the staircase, and Shaw.

Thankfully Iris makes it safely, and Reese breathes out in silent relief as he recovers back inside the apartment and behind the safety of the front door.

Angry, agents start to fire back blindly in retaliation.

Now standing behind Shaw, starting to physically shake a little, Shaw turns and looks Iris straight in the eyes. Shaw wanted to make sure Iris would understand the next set of instructions. "As you run out the front door turn left. There is a black SUV about a block away. Don't stop running until you reach the SUV and a woman with a leather jacket." Iris also nods twice at Shaw's instructions.

"Ok go. We'll be right behind you" as Shaw turns back around to glance at the situation with Reese.

Iris doesn't hesitate and runs in the direction as instructed. She was trained in these scenarios when she joined the police force. Keep calm, find an exit strategy, look for cover. Never before did she think she would actually need to use it.

As Reese and Shaw barely make it out the building they see in the distance an agent standing in front of Iris about to pull the trigger, and Reese's heart skips a beat... ' _Carter'_ ... Only the agent suddenly goes down in a heap. As the agent was no longer blocking the vision in front of him, Reese spots her, _'it can't be'_ as he blinks in disbelief and shock, having now reached Iris and wrapping his arm around her to support her.

Finding relief and safety in John's embrace, Iris relaxes a little and looks up at Reese, who is staring at something else. Following Reese's line of sight, Iris also catches Shaw sprinting past them. The woman in the leather jacket Iris notes, is holding a gun with one hand while slumped heavily against the corner of a building with the other. Just as the woman was about to slide off the wall and hit the ground, Shaw slides on her knees and catches her, breaking her fall.

Breathing hard shallow breaths Root struggles to keep her eyes opened, feeling Shaw's arms on either side of her, holding her. "I'm OK", she gets out between strained breaths, "I'm OK" as she stares back at the concerned eyes.

The curiosity of this whole exchange now distracting Iris from her own shock, is left standing alone as she watches Reese walk closer towards Shaw. As he gets there, in a whisper of hope, "Root?!"

Root looks up at Reese, who instantly sees how drained she was. With the last of her remaining energy "hey big lug... Miss me?" Root teases, and passes out in Shaw's arms.

 _Past:_

Dressed in black, a figure is spotted running out of an office block, hidden further by the darkness as he runs down the unlit back streets and alleyways

"Stop!" As the security guards run after him.

The figure reaches the end of the block, _'just past this street and I'll lose them'_ …...

 _SIRENS_

Rudely awaken from his thoughts, police sirens screech and echo down the confined streets, getting closer.

Panting, crouching, and glimpsing around the street corner, he sees police officers now roaming the streets searching. Panting, breathing, panicking...

 _'Dirty cops,'_ as the crouching figure fumes, staring out onto the main street and the searching police officers.

"Tatsuro Daizo, I presume?"

Jumping at the sound, Daizo spins round down the alleyway to see a _tall_ woman looking down on him as she leans casually on the door of a parked car, elbow leaning on the roof, her hand propping up her tilted head as it rests on her knuckles. Still confused and panicked, Daizo looks out between the main street and the mysterious tall woman in the leather jacket.

"What? Help a guy to siphon money from their local gang of triads and then pretend you don't know her, classy," she smirks teasingly.

Daizo eyes widen, "Root-san?!"

Letting out a small chuckle, "don't sound _so_ surprised" as she walks over to Daizo and hands him some articles. As Daizo scrambles to put everything on, Root hums while she slips on an oversized t over her jacket, and wraps a scarf loosely around her neck, followed by a whistle. Daizo finishes by tying a bandanna round his head.

 _Boom, boom... Pheep, pheep_...

And the chanting is heard marching down the street. Daizo's eyes widen as he realises what was coming, Root now standing poised beside him, also peering out around the corner over his shoulder, waiting.

"Japan!" _Boom, boom_... "Japan!" As the drums and chants get louder, and the huge crowd of football fans march pass them. Casually putting the whistle in her mouth and waving her glow sticks in the air, Root joins the crowd, blending in. Smiling, Daizo quickly joins his newly introduced hacker friend, running out shouting "Japan!" _Boom, boom_ , and beating his boom sticks in tune with the drums.

As they march down the block towards the national stadium with their fellow Samurai Blues, Daizo also slips away from the corrupt police officers.

 _Present:_

Coming to again and not recognising the room, Root starts to panic and contemplates jumping off the bed. She is only halted from her thoughts as "hey fruit loop" rings out by her.

Root tilts her head towards the owner of that voice and spots Fusco, tight lipped, but smiling at her, eyes beaming. Root smiles a tight lipped but exhausted smile back at him before relaxing back into the bed.

He teases further, "it's good to see you too, though you're not looking so hot right now!" Chuckling to himself, overwhelmed by happiness of seeing his dear, and still crazy, friend again. It sure beats the image of her lying in the morgue!

Shaw stalks into the room with a medical kit in hand. Spotting her, Fusco finishes "get some rest, you're gonna need it!" As he nods his head towards Shaw, and exits the room.

Shaw walks to Root, who has now pulled down her oxygen mask. "My girl in shining armour", Root teases.

Shaw stopped for a moment to give Root a disapproving look, before continuing to remove the stethoscope from around her neck, and puts the medical kit down. She delights in the small sudden shock as Root jumps a little at the cold stethoscope making contact with her skin.

"Hmm" Root continues to tease as she closes her eyes while Shaw continues to listen to her heart thumping. Shaw glares at her in reply before returning her attention to completing the check up, which included checking Root's scars and stitches. After what seemed like an eternity, especially as Root feels her pulse racing faster with every touch, Shaw lets out a breath in relief, "you're good" before helping Root back down onto the bed and relaxing a little herself, relief.

Root chuckles to herself as she settles back in, warmed by Shaw's concern, even as a glass of water and meds are shoved unceremoniously in her face.

As Root sleeps, Shaw steps back out into the office to access the damage of the surprise attack. Clearly security needed to be upgraded if they were to continue using this place.

As if the action last night wasn't enough to keep things buzzing, the atmosphere was spiking to a crescendo in excitement as everyone starts to talk about the unconscious woman that was brought in. As soon as Root's name got out the chatter spread like wild fire. The name of course was dropped by Casey and Daizo as they are snapped out of grief momentarily by disbelief at the sight of another friend, _alive_.

 _Past, in a small Japanese village out in the countryside:_

Tamaki skips along the open streets before he trips and falls. Running over, his older sister helps to pick him back up, dusting him down and brushing away his tears.

As Tamaki sits on the boxes of the inventory stock stacked outside the corner shop. He waits patiently while eating his skewered dango, his legs swinging as his sister reemerges with water, a brush and some light gauze to clean his grazed knees, soothing him as he winces in pain.

Later that day, Tamaki is happily out playing again, this time trying to kick a ball in the alleyway behind his home. With one mighty kick, pretending to be a Samurai Blue, it's the last minute of the game, could he kick that ultimate goal to win the match? Tamaki winds back his short leg, as far as he could reach, and as much as he could, and swings it forward again, connecting with the ball, and slicing it. The ball hits the wall in front of him and spins off to hit another wall in the confined space. The ball stops moving forward as it hits a little boy also playing in the alley, on the back. The boy is knocked to the ground, and his yoyo rolls down the drain.

At the shock of what had just taken place, both little boys run back to their separate homes. One crying, the other in fear...

Early the next morning there was a knock at the front door.

"Who could be this early?" Grandma asks to no one in particular as Grandpa looks up from his paper to look at his grandson. As usual, they were all sitting at the dining table eating breakfast.

Grandpa smiles and winks at the little boy, and he shrugs with a giggle in reply.

"Tatsuro, come here", Grandma calls from the front door.

As Tatsuro reaches the door, Grandma leaves the door open for him and walks away. Tatsuro is now standing and looking at Tamaki. Tamaki is standing and looking at Tatsuro. The silence is broken as Tamaki hesitatingly lifts his arm and holds it out to Tatsuro. Unfurling his hand, a new yoyo is offered. Tatsuro instantly looks up at Tamaki, smiling, and takes the yoyo.

Now with yoyo in hand, Tamaki is standing looking at Tamaki, and Tamaki is standing looking at Tatsuro again, continuing to awkwardly look at each other, neither sure on how to continue. With a final huge inhale of air, Tamkai takes the football from under his arm and finally asks, "wanna play?"

For Tatsuro, as an only child with two working parents, being alone was normal for him. But that summer he met a friend, and his older sister, who would sometimes bring them sweet dango, take them to the local market stalls, and even teach him how to ride a bicycle. He was fun and warm. She was kind, and caring.

"I'm so sorry ma'am", as the officer informs Grandpa.

Behind them an older woman watching on from the front garden. As the two police officers leave the elderly man, he makes his way over to his wife, eyes full of tears.

"No!" She whispers in disbelief as they both break down in tears, only able to hug each other in consolation.

Watching his grandparents crying, holding onto his bicycle by his side, Tatsuro didn't understand why the police officer stopped to put a hand on his shoulder. Tatsuro looked up at the officer in confusion. The officer then regained himself, straighten his jacket, and continued to walk back to the patrol car where his partner was waiting.

That summer was the summer that never ended, as his parents weren't the only ones that Tatsuro never saw again.


	10. Returning Home (Part 2)

Cht 10

Returning Home (Part 2)

 _Present day:_

"What kind of a smart ass calls himself Vespa any ways?" Muses Fusco, without the humour, trying to engage with Goose, who sits motionless beside him, unflinching.

After a moment's silence he replies, "yeah, he was always a goof like that" and gets out the car.

With a hand on his shoulder, "come on", Fusco urges now standing beside Goose, both staring at the house in front of them. They walk up the steps to the front door, and after a deep breath, Goose knocks heavily on the front door.

An old man answers it with kindness upon spotting, "Ricky!" he greets in surprise and confusion as he looks round for his own son, "where's George? Is he goofing around again?" As he continues to smile expectantly, waiting for another of their crazy stories.

Leaning on the doorway watching Root sleep, Shaw is disturbed from her trance by a figure standing behind her. As his presence doesn't move, Shaw turns round to find him also looking at Root, pausing deep in thought before snapping his attention back to Shaw. It had been a rough 24 hours.

He tilts his head indicating for Shaw to follow him. Shaw looks back at Root before reluctantly following Reese through the office as agents around them continue to clear up.

 _As Daizo is tapping away on his laptop, he transfers two hundred million dollars to the Tamaki Kids Cancer Foundation. Satisfied the transfer is complete, he closes his laptop and throws it in the back seat before getting out the car and looking across the street. T_ _he same street where he stood when the police officer had put that hand on his shoulder. A consolatory smile creeps over his face, turning his grandparents home into a place of shelter for others in need, this was the best way to honour both his friend and ancestors._

 _A figure wanders close, and stands beside him, waking him from his thoughts. With that casual tilt of the head, Root looks on, amused as she also looks to the kids playing on the front garden._

 _They watch as a small boy is being taught how to ride a bicycle by his older sister. As the older sister runs along beside him as he peddles, holding onto the handlebar to keep him upright. Suddenly something blocks Daizo's view... Staring at it,_ _'a sweet wrapper'_ _, and takes it from Root's outstretched hand. Realising it was a Chichi dango, Daizo spins round and looks up at Root. Root only looks back in amusement and shrugs, 'what?'_

Daizo is snapped out of his reminiscence as the bed in front of him shakes a little. Daizo quickly stands up straight, still lingering at the doorway of the medical room. As Root slowly comes too, Daizo ventures a little further in and pours a glass of water, waiting.

After readjusting to the light, Root realises Daizo is standing in front of her, and she smiles warmly to acknowledge him. This in turn prompts Daizo to walk to the side of the bed and hand her the glass of water, calling, "Onee san", truly happy to be able to see his big sister again as he continues to grin at her.

They end up in the training room, and Shaw's gut was already telling her to brace for impact as Reese picks up two sets of boxing gloves from the box and then steps onto the mats, stopping in the middle of them. Seeing this, the other recruits and agents already on the mats slowly stop and clear a path for him. Hesitating, Shaw approaches Reese, and a pair of gloves are thrown at her.

Catching them she glares back, _'don't do this'_ in her own harden expression, as the others in the room start to inch closer towards the impending battle, curious.

Reese finishes putting on his gloves, waiting for Shaw to follow. The instant Shaw finishes tying on the second glove Reese was already swinging at her, left hook.

Always alert, Shaw manages to parry it away in time to also block Reese's right punch as she moves to shield her head.

Reese smirks and takes a step back, challenging her and urging her forward. The tension and chattering volume around the room increasing with every passing second. Seeing Shaw not moving from her spot, Reese moves forward towards her instead and throws two more punches, which Shaw again, blocks, "what's the matter Shaw?! Lost something?" Reese gibes ...

Unusually Reese is able to get a rise from Shaw, but this time his words didn't, and Reese knew as he moves forward again throwing punches in all directions. After a round, he stops, and lets out a puff of air in laughter, taunting her. "Where _are_ you, _Shaw!?_ " He continues to challenge her.

The corners of Shaw's mouth starts to twitch and she moves quickly to the side and punches hard into Reese's defenceless side, connecting and hitting him with full force. Reese doubles over slightly wincing in pain as the stitches on his wound from the shooting last night is split open.

"Right here" she sneers back, clearly now annoyed at this, whatever it was. She had somewhere more important to be. Reese smiles a wicked smile to the ground as he stands up again, pain subsiding. They go at each other again exchanging rounds after round, neither of them actually fully letting go of their anger, yet.

As this was taking place, a couple of the recruits took it upon themselves to go inform Dr Campbell, however as Iris reaches the training room, she can only watch helplessly on as her cries for Reese to stop remain unheeded.

"Come on John, you can do better than that!" Shaw teases as they break momentarily to catch their breaths .

Snorting with rising anger, Reese moves in and they exchange again _…._

Emotions are messy in this line of work. Too much of it could get you killed. Too little of it causes others pain. With all that had taken place, the deaths, survivor's guilt, the moving on, this new operation, training the recruits, running numbers... And now putting Iris in danger too, at that moment, it was too much for Reese to bear. Emotions are complex at the best of times. Even more so when there are two individuals incapable of dealing with them.

Catching Reese off guard in his own thoughts, Shaw drops to the ground and roundhouse kicks his legs from under him. Sick of this shxt, Shaw jumps on him and relieves the last of the anger she was holding back and strikes Reese with lightening quick short punches to the head as Reese uses his arms to shield the attack, trying to ignore the pain of the blood pouring out from his wound as the stitches have now clearly opened out.

Iris watches on in horror, and the mood of the room has grown from excited energy to nervous tension as others stand helpless, afraid to stop the increasingly violent fight. Even Bear was now whining pacing in the corner, having wandered over from his bed after seeing his two adults come into the room.

Shaw stops punching as she catches a glimpse of Root standing in front of her in the distance in the corner of her eye. Root's arm around Daizo's neck, while Daizo was supporting her waist, having clearly helped Root stumble to the training room.

Seeing Shaw pause and watching something in front of her, Reese takes the opportunity and throws an upper cut.

Shaw manages to move out of Reese's direct line of punch, however he still manages to catch her on the chin, sending Shaw crashing back onto the mat.

As Reese gets up to follow up on his attack he's stopped by Root's cry, "John!"

Reese half standing, half crouching, sits back down onto the mat upon hearing his first name, and that familiar voice. Shaw was still lying flat on her back from the upper cut. Both now unmoving and catching their breaths.

Iris continues to watch on from the side, glad the fighting had stopped, but also sad realising she could not stop it herself. She wondered, in disappointment, whether she would ever become that _anchor_ for Reese. Like those knowing nods and looks he and Shaw shared. Or the soft spot Reese has for Root, that with just a call of his name can bring him back to his senses. Iris couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

"Shaw", Root urges with her soft tone, "time to go".

With that, Shaw takes off her gloves as she stands, and throws them to the ground. She takes a moment to brush herself off, stretching her body and extending especially the right side of her neck and jaw, checking for damage levels. _'Nothing broken',_ she confirms to herself as she glances at Reese one more time as she walks past him, and takes Root from Daizo.

Iris is now wandering over to Reese herself and kneels down in front of him in concern. The crowd in the room now also slowly dispersing, the show was over.

Iris helps Reese up, and takes him to the medical room to stitch his would back up. _' Clearly'_ , she assessed, _'Neither of them have a healthy emotional outlet, she would have to change that.'_

The Shooter stands watching from a short distance as the agents unload their SUVs of the computer equipment they had stolen from Team Machine's office, and into their own warehouse. The crates of weapons they stole from the smugglers at the warehouse weeks ago also now sitting in their own warehouse. Thinking back, it was satisfying taking things from The Machine and it's teams.

Inside, operations are being overseen by the now free tall confident woman, watching as The Machine equipment is being rebuilt inside the faraday cage.

Just in time, as the lights and machines flicker back on as the power cut issue is restored.

Next time Root comes round she realises that she's in Shaw's arms being carried up some stairs. They stop outside 6D, and despite now being fully awake, she watches as Shaw delicately balances her with one arm and a leg while trying to wrestle open the door. She couldn't help herself as she breathes Sameen in, her muscles, her grunting sounds as she tries to work out a problem, and her scent. Root smiles.

As Shaw closes the apartment door and about to spin back round to the sofa where she left Root, she near bumps into the woman who is now so close she is nearly on top of her. Before Shaw can react from the surprise, she feels pain shoot from her jaw to her head as Root has stretched out her arm and is pressing down on the bruise now forming on her jaw.

Root frustrates, "stop, whatever it is you're doing", but is only met with more confusion by Shaw as she looks at Root blankly, before looking away momentarily to wince and stretch out her throbbing jaw, again.

Seeing the confusion, Root stops pressing on the jaw, sighs, and changes tactic. Softly encouraging, "Sweetie, you haven't left my side since..." _' I came out of my coma'._ In a whisper of regret and sadness looking away from Shaw's gaze, "I'm sorry I left". It hurt Root to see Shaw react with such anger with Reese, alerting Root of Shaw's still manifesting pain.

Realising what Root meant, and in a panic to stop Root from blaming herself, and since words continue to fail her, Shaw uncharacteristically places a hand over Root's mouth to stop her from talking further.

Root takes the hand, kisses it and moves it away from her face, still holding it, "I'm right here."

Shaw looks away realising the impact of Root's words. She had nothing to be sorry about. They both didn't need to be, there were just a lot of residual, _feelings_ , from all that has taken place, and neither Shaw nor Reese knew how to handle all these... _Feelings..._

After a long silence, recovering, Shaw looks back at Root who is now gazing at her with those eyes, both of Root's hands now placed on top of each of Shaw's shoulders.

"Sameen", Root calls playfully, "where are we?"

Both Root and Shaw now look around, still unmoving from their spot, to assess the apartment they're now standing in.

Unsure Shaw shrugs, both with widening smiles creeping across their face...


	11. INSERT: The Grace of it all

Cht 11

INSERT: The Grace of it all

 _Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring..._

"Ciao? Ah, Ms Shaw, it's good to... Oh... I... See..."

Shaw witnesses a boy grab the gelato out of the hand of the little girl playing along the harbour, before pushing her to the ground. The little girl cries, sitting on the floor, as she watches the small boy walking away.

Standing up, Shaw cups what's left of the contents in her hand, and waits. As the small boy passes her happily, skipping and licking the gelato, Shaw drops the remaining breadcrumbs discreetly into the boy's hair, secretly smirking.

As the boy screams from a short distance behind Shaw, Shaw turns to witness the sea gulls flocking towards him and pecking his head, followed by the snatching of his gelato before the boy runs off screaming as the birds continue to chase him.

Witnessing this in the distance, Grace chuckles as she pays the shop keep for her additional purchase. Walking towards Shaw, she first stops next to the little girl, helping her to stand up. As Grace brushes off the dust and straightens the little girl's dress again, the little girl stops sniffling. Grace, gently wipes away what's left of her tears, and then hands her the cone of gelato that she had just purchased.

"Grazie Signora!" As the little girl's pout turns into a beaming smile before running off in delight.

Standing up again, Grace makes her way to Shaw, who has now turned her expression back to her neutral self. Grace chuckles as she reaches Shaw, and turns her in the right direction before looping her arm around her as they walk back together. Quickly snapping her mouth shut again, Shaw couldn't help but let Grace have her way, her warmth was too much for Shaw to reject.

"Harry", as Root looks away from Finch's gaze, "You're making a girl blush", Root comments shyly as she dips her head down towards the table.

"I'm Sorry Ms Groves," shaking his head and breaking his stare, "Root, it's just... I'm so glad... No, I'm so very happy to see you again!" As a beaming smile spreads across Finch's face.

They sit in comfortable silence, enjoying each others company for a moment.

"How are you .."

"Dealing with the I nearly died scenario?" Root teases, but there was no humour behind her words. "Each day gets easier. Learning to not hold on to things so tightly is a little more difficult", as she looks to Shaw and Grace in the distance, walking back to them.

Also spotting them, "how is Ms Shaw, coping?" Finch looks hesitantly at Root.

Smiling, "she's...", but her eyes betray her.

Finch nods just as Grace and Shaw return to the table, Grace laughing while Shaw holds her usual stoic face. Grace glances at Finch, who instantly knows that they were up to some mischief, and returns Grace's smile in acknowledgement of it.

"Lunch ladies?" As Finch stands and takes the newly purchased coffee beans from the table.

Root pats Shaw on the leg, and Shaw stands to help Finch prepare the food.

"She has a good heart, even though she denies it", teases Grace as she watches Root.

Root instantly looks away, embarrassed like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Laughing lowly at Root's embarrassment, "you know", as Root turns to look at Grace, "she looks at you the same way..." Grace pauses to let Root recover from her now fully blushing face. "Harold is worried about you, about both of you."

Root stops nodding as she feels a hand softly touch her chin and slowly turning her head before the hand drops again. Now looking straight at Grace "but you have each other. A battle is already half won when you find someone who chooses to walk beside you, everyday" she encourages as Grace's gaze now goes from Root to Harold in the kitchen mixing up the salad while Shaw fiddles with the coffee machine, poking her head around it and wondering where to fill the water.

Root, looking across to Grace, finds her gazing and smiling at the simple kitchen scene. Such a genuine smile. Root catches herself in awe of the simple and yet graceful way she views this world.

Sitting on the Finch couple's porch, looking out into the Tyrrhenian, the water is calm and soothing as the beaming sun glistens the sea. The cool breeze touches them, letting them enjoy the otherwise scorching hot day. They bask in each other's company, hiding even if it is just momentarily, from the harshness of everyday life.


	12. INSERT: Finch's conversation with Iris

Cht 12

INSERT: Finch's conversation with Iris

Smiling at the Doctor as she walks out of the precinct for the end of another shift.

Cocking her head in surprise, "Mr Finch?" Before turning with sudden realisation and panic, "John?!"

"Oh no, no!" Finch expresses quickly and apologetically, "Mr Reese is fine."

With the reassurance Iris recovers by returning back to her original expression of surprise.

"I was wondering if you have time right now, if we may go for a coffee", Finch enquires warmly.

"Oh. Yes, that would be nice."

Chuckling, "I don't appear to be doing too well Dr Campbell, you keeping looking at me in surprise."

Laughing and smiling back at Finch's comment, she reaches out to her coffee on the table, and takes a sip before nursing the warm mug. "Your pitch is, a little unexpected Mr Finch."

"Mr Reese knows that I'm here."

"Oh.."

"He mentioned that you were feeling a little, restless, in your current position. Maybe he senses that you are looking for a change, something different? Now that you know what we are about, what we do, I hoped that you would continue to help us achieve our goal."

Iris nods, thinking seriously about his proposal, and puts down her coffee mug.

Finch continues to encourage, " it's important for our people to address any residual feelings, stress or pressures pre and post missions as quick as possible so that they don't manifest and turn into something less, constructive.."

"Or destructive."

Finch looks up at Iris' last words to a warm understanding expression. "Yes, Dr Campbell, Iris if I may?"

Iris nods.

"In our line of work, as you know from the police force, there are a lot of stresses and emotions that our people go through. More so since we cannot tell people what we really do, never mind talk about what has been done."

Finch pauses a moment to let his words sink in. Then continues "there are two other therapists in the clinic, but we could always use more, of course. You will also have full use of the facilities at Carter-Turing Memorial."

"Mr Finch"

"Please, call me Harold"

"Harold, your proposal is, enticing actually. Knowing what John has told me, it is a cause I would like to be a part of, but I have, if you would allow me time to think about it?"

"Of course!" Harold smiles reassuringly, and there is a pause as Finch takes a deep breath for the subject he's about to venture into next, not quite knowing where the boundary will be. "Mr Reese... I know he can seem, distant at times, but he is trying. He has lost so much" he finishes encouragingly.

Iris is now looking at Finch with seriousness, caught off guard again with Finch's topic of conversation.

"I hope that you will not give up easily on him", as Finch looks earnestly at Iris.

Putting her hand on top of Finch's on the table, "thank you, Harold. I sometimes don't know how to read John, and whether I should push him. Your words give me hope."

And they both continue on with their conversations in pleasant company, on a beautiful warm and dry day as the sun goes down.


	13. INSERT: Helping Root

Cht 13

INSERT: Helping Root

Shaw's heart skips a beat, balling her hands and tensing her entire body willing it not to move, not to help Root as she lays there on the mat, breathing heavily, again. Watching her chest rise... And then fall again, the strain. This time it takes her just that little bit longer to pick herself up.

Recovery for Root had been slow, but with a successful surgery and her own personal Doctor always watching over her like a hawk, it was rude not to recover well. The scarring tissue had mostly healed, going from the angry black, blue and protruding line to the healthy red of healing tissue.

The slight whimpering as she finally sits up was nearly enough to crack Shaw as Root's physical pain ripples down Shaw's own tense shoulders, down the spine and manifesting in her stomach, 'don't help her, don't you dare move!'

After each taking turns to play MIA on each other, it has been a hard battle for both not to become so attached. Learning to trust, and then letting go again was proving hard, even in a simple training session.

Seeing Root now standing up, Shaw goes at Root again, his time Root is able to block the punches, one, two, three, thud...

The proud smile that Shaw has for Root's improvement at being able to at least block a few of her counter attacks quickly disappears as she hears it, so soft Shaw wasn't sure it wasn't in her mind.

"Sameen..." Root had now sat up on the mat and is pouting and panting heavily with sweat coating her forehead and brow. Shaw sighs in resignation and breaks her counter stance to go sit next to Root, but only for a moment.

Root looks pleadingly at Shaw.

Watching Root breathing so heavily, 'clearly she's exhausted, maybe I pushed her too hard?'

Buzz... Buzz...

Shaw turns her head slowly towards her phone which is sitting on the edge of the mat. Root smiles as the sound breaks the stand off. Shaw rolls her eyes as she walks to her phone. Picking it and the towel up, Shaw makes her way out to the meeting room.

'Ah', as Root now lies splayed out on the mat, recovering as she wipes the sweat clear off her brow in relief.

"Thank you", she says to the air, but the Machine had heard her.


	14. INSERT: If only I knew how

Cht 14

INSERT: If only I knew how

 _'If only I knew how, I would tell you how my heart flutters upon seeing you smile, your perky psycho self._

 _The way you tilt your head, how you smirk at me, and the way my body shudders every time we touch._

 _If only I knew how, I would tell you how all my troubles disappear every time you distract me with your nonsensical words._

 _The way you make time stand still when you stand in front of me, looking at me, looking back at you._

 _There is so much more that I want to do, for you._

 _If only I knew how, I would promise you the world and protect you from being harmed._

 _Even though these would both be lies._

 _As I don't know how, I hope that you will never stop trying. Trying to make me feel, trying to hold my hand, trying to make me smile._

 _If only I knew how, there is so much more that I want to say to you ...'_


	15. INSERT: Stand off in the subway

Cht 15

INSERT: Stand off in the subway

"What do you mean Shaw will be bait?" Root panics as Reese looks over at her.

The four usual suspects had all gathered in the subway to discuss _the_ plan.

"Root, we need to draw out the Shooter" Reese urges.

Fusco nervously looks over to Shaw, who is only looking at Root.

"We need to know who's behind the attacks, and our way in is the Shooter", Reese continues.

"Is it that bxtch, Control?" as Root turns questioning The Machine. She only remains quiet.

"We only know she broke out, not if she's involved" Shaw answers before they all look at the grainy dark and partial photos of The Shooter and none of Control.

"If we use Shaw we can lure them out. We have an entire Team to watch out for her" Reese proceeds as she tries to give Root a reassuring smile, only it turns into a grimace.

Shaw steps forward, and Reese and Fusco move off in the distance to give them a little privacy.

Shaw turns Root around with her good arm, to face her, not letting go of Root's upper arm. Curling her injured arm into her own chest, they gaze at each other momentarily, before Shaw takes a deep breath and breaks the silence. "We talked about this", _'sort of'_ as Shaw looks questioningly at her own statement.

Root chuckles internally knowing that Shaw doesn't really talk about anything. _'This will be fun'_ as Root is now even more curious to hear what Shaw has to say.

In a low voice, "you called me out for not leaving your side", Shaw pauses, stumbling with her words, "this is who we are"... Shaw leans closer into Root's good ear and whispers, "I trust you," as her eyes do the rest of the talking, _'to take care of me, to have my back, to catch me when I fall._

Root breaks, and reluctantly nods at Shaw, before whispering back "I do too", _'to always come back to me'._

After another pause, gazing at each other, so close their noses nearly touching, Shaw pulls away, recollects her cool, and walks towards the boys. Root reluctantly follows.

The silent stand off continues. Reese looks to Root, Root looks at Shaw, Shaw looks at Reese...

"Ok you kamikaze bunch of Angry Birds!" As everyone turns to Fusco, "if any one gets to complain its me! I watched _you two_ go MIA, and _you"_ throwing his hands in the air at Root, "lying on a slab! Any sane person doesn't get over that" as he finishes pointing his finger still at Root before calming to catch his ranting breath... Calmly, "Coco puffs, we'll all have Looney Tunes back, even the kids will be there, nothing will happen to her."

In surprise at Fusco's outburst, Root recovers from her repressed amusement and steps forward, up close to Fusco, so close, smiling Root's sweet smile. Reaching out she smooths the lapels of Fusco's jacket "hmmm..." Fusco tenses at the contact, feeling her menace, crazy written all over her face. Finishing by patting him on the chest, "if something does happen Lionel..." Root doesn't finish her sentence with words, making Fusco flinch at the nutball.

Regaining his composure, "yeah, yeah, let's go already" as Fusco waves Root's threat aside with a shake of his hand as if nothing just happened.

They all stand for a moment longer looking at each other, before...

"Shooter located" confirms Machine Root.

They all turn to look at The Machine.

"Ok, that's still creepy though!" As everyone turns back to Fusco, "what?! It is!"


	16. Mine to Make (Part 1)

Cht 16

Mine to Make (Part 1)

"Try it now boys", Monica instructs after spending the last few days with Daizo, Casey and Greenfield trying to get the systems back up and running, if not upgraded.

Everyone had been working round the clock, while the IT folk checked security and frameworks, discreet workers were called in to renovate and upgrade the building's physical security, including bulletproof glass, and better entry exit security points. All the while the Teams kept working the numbers, dodging round the busy office, and working with the limited systems and equipment that they had.

Due to the _"_ sensitive and delicate task at hand", Finch had called Monica back to The Team's office to redesign the systems and add further firewalls and encryption onto the networks. Since they had the opportunity to start again, it was an opportunity to upgrade. Monica Jacobs had been involved with the initial set up when Finch had first moved Thornhill from the warehouse into the office, so she was already familiar with the environment and previous systems. For her, it became a challenge to make the architecture the second time round, much better.

Watching on, Root is sitting with her legs stretched out and resting on one of the desks in front of the computers in the office, lilting happily as she relives the morning...

 _Root awoke to Sameen sitting on the side of the bed, head still hanging heavily in sleep. Shaw turns her head towards Root as she feels the bed move, mouth open as if she wanted to say something._

 _Catching this Root crawls towards Shaw gets up on her knees to hug Shaw from behind, resting her chin on her shoulder waiting. Knowing to give Shaw her space, metaphorically of course, she half waits and half continues to snooze on Shaw's shoulder, her body weight now fully slumped onto Shaw's back. This simple contact with Shaw warms Root to the core._

 _'If only I knew how'..._

Buzz... Buzz...

 _Shaw's thoughts are interrupted._

 _What did Shaw want to say to me?_

... ...

Snapping to at the sound, Root's attention is drawn back to the present as her thought is broken.

"It's about time you showed up, we can't all take a vacation you now!" Frustrates Fusco at Shaw as he spots her in the office, the bruise on her chin now clearly gone. Deep down Fusco is happy to see Shaw, but having gone MIA for a few days, they had a lot of work to do.

Shaw shoots him an indifferent look in reply as she continues to munch on her baguette.

Fusco only shakes his head, never forgetting to find Shaw's eating habits horrifying.

Shaw shrugs, "what?!"

Spotting Reese now stalking towards them, they all stand and sit in silence momentarily as tension fills the void around them. It's broken when Reese and Shaw finally smirk at each other, and Fusco lets out his exasperation. "What the hell is wrong with you two?! And you", pointing to Reese, "sure, you give _her_ gloves", jabbing a thumb in Shaw's direction to make his point, "don't recall you giving me the same courtesy !"

Shaw only smirks at this as she continues to eat.

Reese turns to Fusco and cocks his head slightly before adding, "you started it, Lionel", in his usual husky low voice.

Root keeps quiet, smiling at the exchange.

"Why am I always stuck with you lunatics?" Before turning to Root, "Welcome back to the Looney Tunes Academy Cap N Crunch" as he throws his arms up in resignation, grumbling as he walks away.

Shaw snorts at Fusco's ranting.

Daniel with a cup of coffee in hand stands just off them turning his head slowly in confusion as he glances between everyone in the group. _'Why are they all smirking?'_ he wonders, not that an answer to that would be forthcoming even if he did ask. He braves on, boldly breaking the invisible boundary to reach his desk.

Reese had turned to watch him for a few seconds before shrugging and then walking away too. Shaw, still eating, watches on as Root is left with Daniel, both chatting to The Machine.

Iris in the background, having watched the whole exchange unfold, walks away nodding as if she was taking notes, assessing them before she too turns and walks back towards the clinic.

Shaw turns and runs down the street, chasing after the perp in worn jeans and a T. ' _Why was he even in just a T, it's freezing out!?'_ Shaw ponders as she slows to a corner and peers around it. Spotting the dead beat running further into the distance, she continues to run after him, feet picking up again. Unknown to Shaw, a shadow lurks above her, stalking the rooftops as she's followed discreetly, watching from a distance.

The perp makes it across another block and turns another corner, almost like he was backtracking, _'where the hell is he going?' ..._ "I could do with a little back up here!" Shaw frustrates down the comms. "Better as a team he says, where's _The_ Team when you actually need them?" Shaw continues to mumble, cursing at Reese, out loud.

Just as Shaw catches up to the perp, placing a hand on his shoulder to pull him down onto the side walk, a faint swish sound is heard followed by Shaw being thrown back onto the parked car and smashing the window with the force of the arrow through her arm. Before registering the pain, Shaw had already instinctively thrown herself to the ground making herself smaller and a harder target to hit. Just in time as she catches a glimpse of a second arrow swishing past hitting the body of the car, landing just above her head as it splinters and shatters on impact, pieces of the carbon shaft raining down on her. Shaw quickly gets to her feet and dives between the parked cars using it as a shield before hearing another arrow hit the car.

Trying to spot the Shooter, it takes Shaw a few seconds longer, _'there, on the roof!'_ Shaw sees the Shooter stand up and start to run as they too had identified that their cover was blown. Since the perp was now long gone, and despite the hole in her arm, Shaw goes after the Shooter.

The Shooter smirks as they spot Shaw chasing, _'this is gonna be fun'_.

Shaw sees the Shooter come in and out of sight as they jump from roof to roof. About to loose sight of the Shooter, Shaw takes a risk and runs in an instinctive direction and stops as she waits at a corner, hiding in the dark.

The Shooter having lost sight of Shaw, thinks that they are safe and so starts to clamber off the roof via a couple fire escape staircases. As the Shooter jumps to the ground and about to stand up, their legs are swept from under them, and hitting the ground so hard it knocks the wind out of the Shooter.

Dressed all in black with their face covered, Shaw couldn't see the Shooter's face, but could most certainly tell that this lean figure was a woman. Before Shaw could tug away the mask, the Shooter regains her coordination and back flips up onto her feet while throwing a kick at Shaw. They stand assessing each other before a counter as the Shooter lunges for Shaw. A punch, throwing Shaw further back before it's followed by some swift kicks and another round of punches.

Equal to the task Shaw is able to block the attack, but the heavy blows to an already injured arm cause more pain and blood to spill out carelessly over the concrete. Her shins are screaming in pain as they connect again and again with the kicks from the Shooter, and before she realises, Shaw is knocked off her feet, landing heavily on her back.

As the Shooter goes to stomp her, Shaw draws the blade from her boot and connects it with the Shooter's leg, and slices down on it as far as she could reach before rolling backwards and away from the threat, away from The Shooter. Shaw then stands back up in an offensive stance, blade still in her hand, always ready.

The Shooter retreats a little standing defensively, with the uninjured leg leading while the injured one takes shelter behind the front one. Shaw does the same, shielding her injured arm behind the uninjured one.

They watch each other daring the other to make a move as both continue to bleed out.

The Shooter makes a move to retreat but Shaw blocks her by stabbing downwards on the Shooter with her blade. As the Shooter steps back, Shaw stumbles a little. Seizing the opportunity the Shooter kicks out at Shaw's knee, making Shaw connect with the concrete again as her knee gives way and she crashes down onto the sidewalk. In Shaw's momentary daze the Shooter disappears.

Shaw comes to inside one of Carter-Turing's many hospital rooms, and Root is standing by the window. Spotting Shaw awake Root's expression changes quickly from anger to perky, but not before Shaw catches it, Root now having moved to her side.

Seeing Shaw try to recall what happened, Root fills her in, "you lost a lot of blood and passed out. Danny then brought you here" as she tries to make humour by tilting her head in the bland white room.

Annoyance creeps into Shaw, _'oh I remember now'_ as she snarls at the Shooter getting away and jerking from the pain now shooting up her arm as she moves carelessly.

Seeing this Root soothes, "don't worry Sweetie, we'll get him", as she flattens out Shaw's brows with the gentle drawing of her thumb caressing her face. "You were lucky, no ligament damage, bone is intact" before brushing a strand of stray hair back behind Shaw's ear.

"It's the same guy!" Casey confirms as he looks at the remaining pieces of the shattered arrows back in the lab section of the office.

"Who do you think... " Mill cuts himself off as he spots Reese speeding at him from a distance, clearly annoyed.

"What happened?!" Reese snaps as he reaches the table.

Reina, "we were following the perp" who turned out to be just a paid decoy junkie, before she turned to look at Goose's hardened face.

Fusco cuts in "it's the same guy, the same types of arrows" before turning to glance at Goose again, before confirming, "we didn't get a clear view of the Shooter."

Sighing, the recruits are dismissed for the night as Reese and Fusco acknowledge each other.

Watching Goose walk away, Fusco informs Reese, "I'll be right back" as he runs after the recruit, "Goose, hold up."

Goose stops and Fusco takes him to the side. "Hey, everything good with you? You know there are shrinks here you can talk to, that's what they're here for" as he searches for the recruit's eyes.

Shaking his head and looking away, "I'm good" as he turns to try walk away.

Grabbing his arm, "you're good? You left Shaw with no back up cause you were too busy making mince meat of a perp already down."

Goose freezes.

"You lost your brother kid, I wouldn't be ok." Goose looks up to find Fusco's concern staring back at him. "For the sake of your team, if not yourself, speak to someone. Until then, you're out of action" before he punches Goose in the arm. "I'll let Dr Campbell know you'll be seeing her tomorrow. Now go home and try get some sleep".

Goose nods in acknowledgement and walks out into the sombre night.

After a moment of watching Goose retreat from the office, Fusco returns back to Reese, "do you think it's personal?"

"Whatever it is, we need to find this Shooter first!"

"Can't the all seeing eye tell us?"

"The Machine only has unclear shots of the Shooter" as Reese spreads all the photos of all they had of the Shooter around the desk. "With no clear shots, a covered face, petite and dressed all in black. Remind you of someone?"

Snorting, "if I didn't know any better," before continuing with the realisation, and slight surprise, "the Shooter's a woman!"

Reese nods in acknowledgement.

As Shaw is finishing up with the discharge papers and collecting her meds, Root goes in search of coffee. The Machine leads her to the Resident's break room where a specialised coffee machine is sitting in the far corner of it. Without even registering hesitation, Root walks in, then stops. Cocking her head to the side to contemplate whether she had just imagined what she just saw. Retracing her steps, Root stops at one particular door less open locker. Peering at it in surprise, she was not wrong, the name ' _Doctor Turing_ ' was clearly plastered on the top of the locker. The Machine relays over the cochlear that that was Shaw's medical ID alias which She had assigned to her after Shaw had returned to work the numbers with The Team.

"And you decided it was a good idea to assign her with _Turing_?" Root asks rhetorically, amused.

Root looks through the locker, which is neatly organised. Everything was put in an exact place and order, even Shaw's scrubs and white coat, down to the angle and placement of her shoes. Root couldn't help but smile at Shaw's adorable quirk. She spots her book, Sense and Sensibility lying on the top shelf, pages dog eared. Seeing enough Root pushes the book back onto the top shelf intending to then quickly grab that coffee before Shaw started to look for her.

 _Thud. Thud, thud,_ as Root tries a couple more times to slot the book back into it's space. Questioning what was stopping the book, Root peers further into the locker before reaching in to pull out the obstructing object. Now with the book back on the shelf in it's rightful place, Root's full attention is focused on the wooden box now in her hand.

She pauses and hesitates, ' _this is Sameen's privacy,'_ and decides to return the box back into the locker when... Squinting her eyes, Root places the box on the edge of the locker as she reaches into her pocket and fishes out her keys. Flicking through the keys, Root stops at the thin metal key also attached to her key chain. A few days earlier Root had questioned Shaw what the thin key was for when Shaw threw the set of keys at her before leaving that morning. Shaw had just unhelpfully shrugged feigning ignorance. Root had always assumed it was a clue from Her, until now.

Unhooking the thin metal key, and placing the rest of the set back in her leather jacket pocket, Root lifts the wooden box back up from the locker and slides the key into the box. To Root's surprise, the key fits. Curiously, she begins to turn it, but nothing happens. Root turns it again. Again nothing. Root takes the key out and examines the box again, and a moment later turns the key at an angle and pushes it back in. This time the key slots in all the way creating the final pin required to open the box, and turns it.

The box lid clicks open. Peering inside, Root's mouth is slightly parted as her eyes widen at what greets her. A black titanium ring with etchings which looked like computer coding. Lifting the ring to get a better look at the code, the band splits into two, and Root scrambles to catch the falling rings with the palm of her other hand. Now resting safely in the palm of her hand, Root picks one up, and sees the silver computer code etchings spreading from the outer to the inner side of the band. Examining the ring, the etchings were beautifully crafted... _'Wait!' …_ A code within the code as she squints her eyes and tries to decipher it quickly, reading it over and over again. It takes a few more tries before... Root's heart melts instantly at the realisation when she finally unfurls her crinkled forehead and releasing it from intense concentration, ' _four alarm fire'_.

Root is overwhelmed as her eyes involuntarily start to well up. Putting this ring down and picking up the other, she sees that this other ring is of the same design, except the etchings were solely on the inner side of the band, and with the code, ' _I do too.'_

This was uncharted territory so far beyond Shaw's understanding, and yet for Root to have her fairy tale, Shaw was willing to step into the abyss regardless. _'Was this what Shaw wanted to ask me that morning?'_ Overwhelmed by the thought, Root's legs give way and she finds herself collapsing, only she doesn't hit the ground.

 _'Root!'_ Shaw fumes looking back in her room, followed by the nurses station to not find her. "OK, where is she?" As Shaw takes out her phone to speak into it.

 _Buzz... Buzz..._ 'Resident's break room'

Upon seeing this Shaw stalks off down the corridor towards the break room. Spotting Root in through the open door frozen to the spot Shaw wonders, _'what is she..'_ and abruptly stops thinking and starts running as she realises Root was about to faint. Shaw throws her arms out to Root just in time as they both crash to the floor. Of course Root had to land on top of Shaw's lap as they now sit adjacent to each other.

About to shout Root's name in anger, Shaw stops as she first hears a _clatter_ , followed by the wooden box sliding lightly across the floor and into Shaw's sight. As if caught doing something guilty, Shaw tilts her shoulders and upper torso towards Root's face to better gage Root's reaction, except before Shaw could see Root's face, Root had already flung her arms around her neck, pulling on her tightly, too tight, squeezing... Then followed by some audible sniffs, and the feeling of a few drops of liquid landing on the base of her neck and sliding off her shoulder. Shaw slowly snakes her good arm round Root's waist while she leans further into Root, resting her head on Root's shoulder. Her bad arm is now curled into her own shoulder. As Shaw finishes grimacing from another bout of stabbing pain, Shaw opens her eyes again to access the damage. _'Great!'_ As Shaw realises that the stitches on her arm has now fully split open and blood has started seeping out of it, again. Not wanting to ruin this moment for Root, Shaw sits there waiting for her to finish doing... Whatever it is Root was doing, trying to ignore the pain.

" _I hope that you will not give up easily on him"_ , as Iris' drifting thoughts of her conversation with Finch is interrupted by the sight of John leaving the office. Without further hesitation Iris runs to catch up with Reese, trapping him in the elevator. A couple of agents also tried to get into the elevator but Iris gives them a challenging look, _'get the next one,'_ while she blocks the doorway.

Backing off, the agents watch as the elevator doors close.

As the elevator doors close, Iris spins around to face John, catching his surprised look. Ignoring it, "OK John!" Iris states, as if addressing business. "You don't get to do that" as Iris continues to look at him sternly. John opens his mouth slightly to try to reply but is cut off, "this isn't your call to make."

"Wh..."

"Do you think by ignoring me and keeping me at a distance I will eventually get so frustrated I will give up and walk away? Is that it? Make me believe it's my decision, this is what I wanted when in actual fact you're the one who's giving up on us" as she finishes, looking disgusted at Reese, challenging him.

Reese blinks, speechless.

"And don't pretend that you're not doing it!" She fumes, "we have barely spoken since that shooting at my apartment, and the fight in the training room with Shaw. I'm not going to just walk away because _you're_ too afraid to go there!" As she pokes her finger accusingly at John's chest.

Surprised that he was called out, Reese tries to get a word in edge ways in his defence but is stopped...

"I chose this life. I know the risks, and this is where I want to be. So stop feeling guilty that I nearly got hurt. I'm not hurt, and it's not your fault there are many bad people out there. I'm not going anywhere so, deal with it!" She finishes furiously to Reese's continued shocked and stunned expression, still quiet.

The pause goes on, making the silence more awkwardness as the elevator seems to be taking an age to get to it's destination.

Giving into the discomfort and rising tension, "well! Say somethi..."

Iris is rudely cut off as Reese steps forward, embraces her and then kisses her abruptly and full on the mouth. Without knowing it, they both close their eyes and indulge in the moment as they sail through the air.

 _DING_

As the bell brings them back to earth, they pull away just as the elevator doors open. Reese is left staring at the morning white collar workers in their pristine suits waiting to get into the elevator and start their Monday morning. Iris is now smiling down at Reese's chest still a little dazed. With the impatience of the hoard, Reese and Iris are both rudely pushed out of the elevator by the morning suits.

Still baffled and amused, but now standing in the hall on the ground floor, Reese finishes watching the elevator door close and disappear back up the tower again before returning his attention back to a still smiling Iris. They hold their gaze for a moment longer before Reese parts his lips to speak.

 _Buzz buzz buzz..._

As Shaw walks out of Carter-Turing and into the car parking lot opposite, an explosion occurs. Shaw crouches instinctively upon hearing the loud _boom_ not far off in the distance behind her. As she spins round to see where it was coming from, distracted, she misses the two men in black jump out at her. They pull her down onto the ground before she is knocked unconscious.

A van then skids to a halt in front of them, and Shaw is thrown in while the other two men jump in and slide the side door shut again. The van skids off leaving tire trails on the concrete, smoke still billowing from the fresh skid marks left behind by the van.

As Shaw's phone is left behind, lying slightly smashed on the ground, it instantly lights up as The Machine calls Reese.

Reese hunches his shoulders and awkwardly reaches for his phone in his suit jacket pocket while he gives Iris a playful expression of ' _awful timing'_ as he glances at her. Iris couldn't help but chuckle too at the timing of it all, pressing her hand against her own lips to suppress the laugh. Recovering Iris looks up at John, who is looking a little dishevelled.

As Reese finishes answering his phone, Iris steps back a little and smooths out Reese's ruffled hair and suit before adding "go. I'll be here when you get back."

Reese nods and smiles at Iris in acknowledgement, and then walks out the building.

Groggily coming to, Shaw finds herself zip tied to a chair sitting in a dimly light room.

"Agent Shaw", she smiles smugly, "nice of you to join us."

Shaw gritting her teeth, "Control!"


	17. Switching Sides (Part 2)

Cht 17

Switching sides (Part 2)

 _Rewinding, 72hrs:_

Shaw was getting impatient as she hits another bar. "How long do I have to keep this up?" Shaw barks impatiently into her ear piece.

"Shaw," comes Reese's warning, "we talked about this".

Shaw only growls in response and Fusco is left shaking his head in the car, which is sitting in sight of the bar.

After a couple of hours of fending off unwanted passes in a rowdy sports bar, Shaw frustrates, "I'm leaving!" And makes for the exit.

Sighing in resignation, Reese can only watch from the rooftop opposite, shaking his head.

"Fusco.." Reese warns.

"On it" as they both track Shaw as she walks down the side walk from a _safe_ distance.

As Shaw walks past a club, a large crowd of drunken party goers were also stumbling and pouring out the exit, the fighting inside now spilling to the outside as a few are also being thrown out the door by the club bouncers. In the sudden confusion Fusco crashes into the crowd of people and was in danger of losing track of Shaw.

"Careful Lionel, don't want to lose Shaw now" he teases, thinking back to the stand off in the subway, " The Mrs won't be happy with that!"

Shaw groans and rolls her eyes at the comment, but continues walking.

"Yeah, yeah" Fusco mumbles. "I don't know what's scarier" he huffs. "Nut Crunch going bananas, or seeing those two loons together."

Reese fights with all his will to not laugh out loud.

Through gritted teeth, "Don't make me hurt.." Shaw cuts herself off as she hears a low scuffle sound. Walking past several more parked vehicles, she turns down an alley and stops. Waiting, Shaw's eyes are focused on the corner of the building, looking back out from the alley to the main street, waiting for her target to turn the corner... Except nothing comes.

"She's here," confirms Reese over the comms. "Alpha team, don't get too close, we don't want to spook her," and Reese and Alpha team were gone...

Fusco peeks round the corner of the building back on ground level. "Come on hot shot, better get you home before I'm skewered" as he continues to tease, grin wiping across his face.

Shaw drops her offensive stance upon seeing Fusco, but continues to glare at him for the rest of the ride back.

 _Rewinding, 48hrs:_

Fireworks _pop, pop, bang, pop, bang_ above their heads, lighting up the otherwise dark night. The crowds below cheer in excitement as they gather to watch and usher in the Korean Lunar New Year. Koreatown is bustling with people and visitors alike as they take advantage of the craft and food stalls temporarily lining along the boulevard.

A woman dressed in a simple plain navy blue skinny jeans, dark t and light jacket, so unassuming, blends into the crowd, flawlessly integrating with the festivities. She is seen laughing and chatting with family, and running excitedly from stall to stall with the kids trying to catch a glimpse on what was on offer.

 _There,_ they all spot it, a slight limp and a reactory grimace before it's gone again.

"Fusco, you might want to try blend in a bit more", Reese teases from his vantage point in the sky.

 _'Why does he always get the vantage point?'_ Fumes Fusco.

Shaw lurking on street level also smirks as she witnesses Fusco's obvious discomfort.

"Why is it I let you nuts talk me in to this every time?" He barks, venom always worse than his bite.

As the unassuming woman continues to move, Shaw quickly takes the opportunity to dash across the street to place her order.

"One Jeon pancake and stick of BBQ squid coming right up!" is heard being called over the ear piece as the man at the stall sings out his new order while smashing a new egg open.

"Oh sure, just take a break while I stick out like a sore thumb" as Fusco shoots an _'unbelievable'_ glance at Shaw.

Shaw just shrugs back, _'what, I'm hungry?!'_

They watch as the target moves into a restaurant to enjoy a meal with her loved ones, greeting others that she knew on the way through the establishment. They witness what _is_ a normal life. As the meal and the celebrations draw to a close, the family gather outside the restaurant doors to say their goodbyes. The unassuming woman, the target, spots Shaw standing opposite her on the other side of the street, Shaw's body half hidden by the parked car as Shaw hides herself from the target's family but not the target herself.

The target then looks around and spots another man standing off at an adjacent street corner looking straight at her. Fusco shoots her the most threatening expression he could muster in return. The target can only assume that there are more of them watching as she struggles to spot any further threats... Sensing the danger, the target spins back to her family and bids them good night before peeling away from them as quickly as she could.

Shaw and Fusco close in on her.

"Not _quite_ what I was expecting", as Root stares at the unassuming petite woman from a distance, and out of her line of sight. Root makes a move towards the figure before Reese reaches out and holds Root's arm softly, holding her back. Root turns slightly to face Reese and flashes a _'I'll play nice'_ smile at _'John'_. They stare at each other for a moment before she gives up, "fine", and stays put.

Reese walks towards the woman, waiting for her eyes to refocus as he pulls the black hood off her head. As they do, the woman sees Reese staring straight back at her. Moving, the handcuffs, _clang..._ As the sound rings from hitting the back of the metal chair. She then tests her legs, _'umph'_ , as they are bolted to the floor. The restrained jolt also sending pain shooting up her injured leg. Camouflaging it as neck stretches, she looks around the room, assessing the surrounding. Satisfied that she now has her bearings, she stops fidgeting and looks back up, curiously, at the man in the black suit.

Reese waits patiently for her to finish her routine before breaking the silence, "I'm guessing you're not really one for following the rules" as he holds up the remnants of a shattered arrow.

She smirks, "what are you, the police?!"

Root snorts from her spot in the distance.

Undeterred, "it's a shame. You obviously have... Creativity" as he admires the re-engineered arrow. The woman looks at him questioningly, but Reese continues, "and you're wasting it by playing for the wrong side".

Now laughing, "and who decides which is the right side?" Her voice unwavering.

Reese spots Root circling towards her prey, only stopping as Reese shoots her a warning glance before continuing, "let me make you an offer..."

Root watches on, itching to get her hands on the woman who hurt her girl, but clearly the direction of the interaction tonight wasn't going to leave her with that satisfaction.

 _Present:_

It's hard to concentrate when you have a fully charged nutball glaring down on you, as Fusco sweats buckets trying to ignore Root while he continues to suit up.

Clearing his throat in a bid to relieve the tension between them, Fusco can't help but welcome the distraction, even though he was less than happy to see him there.

"Goose!", as the namesake walks towards him and the rest of his team. "Sure you're ready?" Fusco questions, as Goose reaches them.

"I wanna be there when we get her!" He snarls.

Fusco nods, and Danny hands him a gun from the inventory. Locking and loading, the team head out.

Groggily coming to, Shaw finds herself zip tied to a chair sitting in a dimly light room.

"Agent Shaw", she smiles smugly, "nice of you to join us."

Shaw gritting her teeth,"Control!"

Shaw looks up at Control hovering over her. Just off to Shaw's left are a couple of agents tapping away at their computers, and surrounding her were four additional agents and _that S_ hooter, she snarls upon spotting her.

The Shooter only smirks back at her, amused.

"I would have come earlier but all our previous engagements hadn't gone, _so_ _well_ " Shaw snarks in defiance.

Snorting at the reply, Shaw's reply spurs Control on, "where's your little crazy bxtch now?" As she leans in closer to Shaw to whisper in her ear, "maybe I can help her further with her hearing."

Shaw reacts with an attempt at head butting Control as her body is slammed back against the chair, the rope and ties restraining her.

Control, already alert to Shaw's proneness to violence, dodged her attempted attack easily, and she laughs obnoxiously loud as she walks a safe distance away, "come on Shaw, this is too easy", relishing in Shaw's weakness. "Just tell me where The Machine is and you can both be on your merry way doing" as she pauses to look Shaw up and down, "whatever it is you two do, now."

Shaw only smirks in reply, staring back at Control defiantly.

Sighing, "fine, have it your way", as Control turns to the electric shock pads on the table unit beside her, and turns the dial on the defibrillator to charge them. "Now I know that these won't scare you, much", nodding towards one of her agents who now walks into view towards Shaw carrying a bucket, "but _that"_ as Control almost sing the last part, "might give you some more incentive", as the agent now stands over Shaw pouring the contents out onto her head.

 _Swish..._

The bucket crashes onto the ground as the rest of the water tips out, along with the agent, onto the ground. An arrow having been shot through his chest, the agent finally succumbs to the pain and is lying unconscious. A second arrow hits another agent close to Shaw by the knee before the Shooter is grabbed by another agent jumping her.

 _Bang, bang, zip-zip-zip..._

Faint in the distance, firing is heard from all around, getting closer. As chaos and diversion averts everyone's attention in all directions, Shaw quickly head butts the agent with the arrow through his knee, and he goes down dazed. Seeing the opportunity, Shaw then stands up and slams down onto the same agent's back and shattering the chair, allowing Shaw to break free from her restraints. That same agent now out cold. Shaw looks up just in time to spot another agent pointing a gun at her, but she neither had a weapon or cover. No where to hide and out in the open...

Relief, as Shaw watches that same agent crumple and fall in a heap, bringing Root into view. Root extends out her left arm and fires in that direction as she smirks, and momentarily gazes into Shaw's eyes, and then walks off, still firing as directed by The Machine. Shaw shakes off the water and broken wooden fragments from her body before grabbing the gun from the knocked out agent.

The Team and recruits soon manage to take out the last of Control's agents as they're rounded up.

Control nearly makes it out of the warehouse, before the last agent protecting her is shot on the knee and then swiftly kicked in the side of the head, knocking him backwards into Control's path and unconscious.

Control herself is now backtracking back to the initial hostage room by Goose's now pointing gun, aimed between her eyes. There they join Reese and Fusco as they knock out the last of the fighting agents, while Shaw, standing just off where the computer equipment was, also knocks out the last of the agents awake on her side of the large open warehouse space. Root is busy tapping at the keyboards in the faraday cage, trying to access what damage had been done.

Fusco spots Goose, and walks over to him. "Goose" he calls...

Goose doesn't look away from Control, anger sparking in his eyes as he grips more tightly onto the handgun.

Reese drags over a chair to Goose and Control, and indicates for Control to sit on it. Goose unflinching, still points the gun angrily at Control's head, murder written all over his face.

She smirks in defiance while Shaw looks on from a distance, while Root's gaze is on Shaw.

"Is it too late to persuade you not to steal The Machine?" Reese teases.

Control smirks.

"Was it worth it?" Goose spits, snapping Control's attention instantly back to him.

Control turns her head smugly, "people need me. Without me there would be more chaos, more wars, this country, would not survive." Goose's eyes flare at her words, but Control arrogantly continues on with her own heroic rhetoric, "The Machine is mine and I intend to take back what's rightfully mine."

"So you kill innocent people?" Goose cuts her off, his anger now nearly consuming him whole.

Adamantly defiant, "I save people" she announces proudly lifting her head.

Shaking, Goose sees Fusco walk to his side with both his hands held up, clear for Goose to see as not to startle or threaten him. "Goose, think... He wouldn't want this."

Goose flinches a little, and it gives Fusco the cue to continue.

"Why did you two join the police academy? Why did you then agree to join our Team, sure ain't hell to do with him looking good in a suit one recruitment day" as he flicks his head at Reese, hoping the humour will help to deflate the tension a little.

"He's gone, Fusco!" Goose barks angrily, before adding in a low hatred "it doesn't matter what he thinks now", as Goose continues to seethe.

"OK, then shoot her", Fusco shrugs as Reese, shocked, glances at Fusco questioningly.

Danny, Ausman and Reina are now entering the open space with the rounded up and restrained agents.

Affected by Fusco's shock tactic, and seeing his fellow recruits now in the room, Goose shakes his head as if it would help him rid himself of his consciousness. Goose snaps his attention back to Control and the gun he is holding, which is becoming heavier with each passing second. Goose's hand begins to shake as his mental one continues to rage on.

Softly, "if anything", as Fusco moves closer to Goose "this crazy chick has taught us," indicating at Control, "is that the end _doesn't_ justify the means", before putting one hand on the recruit's shoulder, and gently, the other one on the gun. Goose, with overwhelming relief releases the weight on his mind, and with it the gun, as his arm flops back to his side, deflated. Fusco then hands the gun to Reese as he walks towards them, and gently ushers Goose away.

Feeling something fall over her, Shaw realises that Root is now standing next to her, putting her leather jacket over her shoulders, smiling as she does so. Shaw hadn't realised that she was shivering from her damp clothes, arms decorated with goosebumps. Root then pulls out some fresh bandages from her back pocket, and Shaw watches as she flicks open a pen knife to cut away at the old now blooded socked bandaging on her arm. Delicately, Root redresses the wound in Shaw's arm.

As she finishes taping the fresh bandage, Root helps Shaw pull the jacket over her arms. Playfully, "hmm", Root moves her arms to wipe away Shaw's goosebumps by smoothing out the jacket sleeves, care not to touch the injured area. With a fake sad pout Root quips, "Sweetie, you're all wet!" As she finishes with her trademark head tilt, before smirking and locking eyes with Shaw.

Reese takes over as he tucks the gun into his waistband and walks to the front of Control. Looking down at her, "well I guess today is your lucky day" he smiles, "I hear orange is the new black".

As they help load the handcuffed agents into the police vans courtesy of Agent Reginald Tucker FBI, _'dxmn it! We have to stop letting Root chose our covers'_ as Reese grimaces at saying the name with a fake smile and flashing his equally fake FBI badge at the Sergeant.

As everyone drives off, Reese looks around in search of the Shooter, but she was long gone.

"Where are the loons..." Before Fusco cuts himself off and shaking his head, "never mind, I don't want to know" as he climbs into the passenger seat.

Reese chuckles at Fusco before also clambering into the car, driver's side.

Early the following day, Goose watches on as Reese stands beside him, from a distance, watching as Iris wheels a sedated Control into a building located far out from the city.

As she reaches the front desk, and first set of locked security gates, she signs the patient in on official Doctor's orders. The nursing staff and guards then take over, wheeling Control through several other locked security gates before disappearing down the hall.

Iris exits walking past the sign, mental institution for the criminally insane, before spotting Reese and smiles at him, _'job done'_.

As the three climb back into the car, they each groan internally as they prepare themselves for the five hour long trip back to NYC.


	18. INSERT: Who is this man?

Cht 18

INSERT: Who is this man?

 _Who is this man?'_ Reese ponders and wiggles a brow slightly as he spots Fusco walk into the room in the distance. Watching as he passes Monica Jacobs, and appears to continue a spat with her, before shouting at some recruit and patting another agent on the back in greeting.

"What?!" As he shouts at a lingering group of recruits, "get back to work!" as he throws his arms in the air, grumbling still as he reaches Reese, still staring the recruits down until they stop looking at Fusco and scurry away. "What?!" He continues to snap, this time at Reese's amused expression looking right at him.

With a creeping smile, "it's no wonder the recruits warm to you Lionel" he teases, chuckling as Fusco gives him a quick look of disgust before walking away to a couple of recruits who has called him over.

Reese continues to watch as Fusco's agitation turns to seriousness as he continues to guide the 'kids', growing into that father figure for them, someone they could trust and lean on for guidance. _'Who is this man?'_ Reese continues to question, _'we have all come a long way.'_


	19. INSERT: Training Root

Cht 19

INSERT: Training Root

Leaning on her locker, Shaw watches as Root jogs on the treadmill in a corner a short distance away. Between it all, agents come in and out of the training room. Her hair tied in a scrunchy and listening to music through her own personal radio cochlear. Root's sweat runs off her forehead and down her face as her cheeks glowed red. Her exposed arms are bent at an angle highlighting her biceps. Her long stride strengthening her legs as the three quarter length pants cling to her muscles, accentuating and highlighting the strength. Shaw gulps, and wipes her own face with her towel before Root finally spots her, watching.

Sauntering over, Root's smile down on Shaw quickly fades as Shaw leans over, and presses a button. And again... And again...

Fast, faster, too fast. Almost yelping, Root pulls the chord and the treadmill comes to an abrupt stop. Pouting at Shaw, Shaw smirks in return before walking away, indicating for Root to follow.

Root hesitates as she watches Shaw walk towards the training mats. It was almost like Shaw was daring her. Taking a slow and deep inhale of breath, and bracing herself, Root steps off the treadmill and walks to Shaw, who is now waiting expectantly.

"Let's see how much you've improved" as Shaw starts to move her arms up in an offensive stance.

Root quickly stops her by putting her own hands on Shaw's arms and cutting her off. Stroking "hmmm... I can think of other fun ways to work up a sweat" teases Root.

Shaw looks up into Root's eyes and fakes smiles with the tilted head. Before Root could react, she spins 180 and is now bent slightly as she realises that Shaw has now twisted and folded her arm into her back. Grimacing from the pain, Root tries to wriggle free, but Shaw's grip was too firm.

"Nope, definitely working on that", Shaw says into Root's ear as she finally stops trying to wriggle free. Letting Root go, Shaw turns the pouting Root back round to face her before showing Root how to protect herself in that situation.

After several failed attempts, Shaw begins to feel the rising frustration from Root as she sits on the mat, head down, panting. Walking over to the bottled water, Shaw picks one up, all the time glaring at one of the cameras, "and don't you even think about it", as she threatens The Machine, before walking back to Root.

Surprised at Shaw's seriousness, Root quints her eyes slightly...

As Shaw turns back round to walk back to Root, Root lunges for her, punch, punch, kick, punch, as the last punch lands on Shaw's jaw, the surprise attack making her stumble back a little. Putting a hand on her jaw and stretching it out to check damage level, Shaw couldn't hide her creeping smile of pride in Root. Root herself also smirking in happiness that she managed to land a punch, and is now back in an offensive stance ready to go again.

Smirking, _'two can play that game...'_ Shaw decaps and takes a swig of water from the bottle that is still in her hand, drinking slowly, and showing Root her neck, shoulder and toned arm muscles as they bend to accommodate the action. Finishing, Shaw straightens her face again and looks straight at Root as she twists the bottle cap back on the bottle while wiping over her mouth with her fingers with the other hand. Root unconsciously breaking as she licks, and then bites down on her bottom lip in reaction. Seeing this, Shaw smirks again, before bating Root to try attacking her again by holding her hand out and waving it back and forth at her, before throwing the bottle away on the mats and lifting her arms in offensive position in readiness.

Realising that she was no longer in an offensive stance, a case of too busy watching Shaw, Root regains herself and attacks, punch, punch, kick, parry, block, punch... Twist...

"Aw..." Root groans as her arm is once again twisted round her back. Struggling to wriggle free, Shaw's grip is unrelenting. Not admitting defeat, Root smirks... Then suddenly, dropping all her weight and giving it up to gravity, she lets her body tilt, and then slowly flop to the side, falling...

Shaw's eyes widen as she feels the weight of Root's body suddenly increasing. Quickly releasing her grip on Root's wrists, Shaw throws her arms around her instead as she cradles their fall.

 _Thump_

As they land, Shaw's arms drop onto the mat as she lies lifeless, groaning. Her eyes then close as she focuses on dulling the pain. Of course Root had to always manage to dig a limb into her every time she fell on her. ' _That's going to bruise'_ , as Shaw drops her head back onto the mat.

Recovering, Root pushes her shoulders up from Shaw's chest and moves to lie completely flat on top of Shaw.

"Umph", as Shaw feels Root shift before her entire body weight lands back on top of her, a second time, pinning her firmly onto the mat. Opening her eyes and lifting her head slightly, Shaw finds Root's mischievous smile and wide gleaming eyes looking straight back at her, clearly amused.

"Hmm... This works for me too", as Root continues to smile and flirt. Letting Root win, Shaw also lets Root lean down and in, kissing her, in public. It had nothing to do with the aching pain vibrating through her body, combined with Root's body weight pinning her down on the mat unable to move even though the advantage was gained through a dirty move, which consequently lead to Root 'winning' that allowed for that to happen. Nope, not at all, Shaw does not lose.

Iris, who would routinely walk around the office, sometimes with another clinic colleague to remind agents of their presence and services, watched as the whole scene unfolded. Smiling, she noted that the pair have now clearly moved on from the aftermath of the Team reuniting. Iris had also noted how much happier the Team were, not just John, as there were no further issues with infighting. John himself brooded less, talked a fraction more, and didn't have another boxing or wrestling match with any other of his own colleagues... Yet. Iris couldn't help but be happy for herself thinking about this, as she continued on with her rounds.


	20. INSERT: The Shooter

Cht 20

INSERT: The Shooter

 _ **'Who is this beauty, Shaw, a mystery. Her dark looks, her toned physique, her fighting skills.**_

 _ **A conviction, a confidence, a presence.**_

 _ **So alluring, so captivating, can I match up to her?**_

 _ **This new Team of people, how can they be so sure of themselves? There are so many Teams of people. The determination, the resilience, the never ending will to complete the task.**_

 _ **But where does she come from, what's her story?**_

 _ **Does she even see me?'**_

 _ **\- No one shoots an arrow like me, cause no one shoots like me**._

* * *

 _'I don't like how she touches my Sameen, hurting her, threatening her, drawing blood. How she looks at her, how she tries to catch her attention, pushing her._

 _Those exotic looks and chiselled features, just like Tomas, is this what Sameen desires? The Shooter challenges her physically like I know I never can. And the way she shoots. Is this what Sameen wants?_

 _Who is this Shooter who hurts my girl? Does Sameen even notice her?'_

 _No one shoots my arrow but me,_ _only I get to know how. -_


	21. Perspective (Part 1)

Cht 21

Perspective (Part 1)

Fusco squawks as shots ring out beside him, three men instantly falling down in front of him, groaning and clutching at their legs. Flustered he protests, "you really need to tell your psycho partners I'm not a shield!"

Reese is approaching him at the end of the harbour, clearly suppressing a laugh.

"Nah, you're just in my way", muses the Shooter as she peels away from Fusco to zip tie the perps, before straightening up again and finishing, "all yours Detective", and walks away into the night, zipping up her hoodie.

Fusco snaps his head back to Reese who only shrugs before following her out into the darkness leaving Fusco to fume as he calls in the bus to pick up the latest cracker jacks.

 _Past, N. Korea:_

So close, the other end, across the borderline to freedom, and yet as he turns around, he finds his friend struggling to get across the heavily barbed wire fencing as border guards and hounds close in on them, sirens blazing and spotlights moving in all direction to try catch the shadows running in all directions across the open field. In an organised effort, the group had decided to split up and try to cross the border, every man for themselves.

And yet Han couldn't do it, ignoring the dog barks and the threats in the background, he turns back and helps to drag Park over the first barbed fence, causing his caught trouser leg to tear. As Park hits the ground with a thud, Han was already digging in the dirty to allow Park to crawl under the last fence. As Park regains his composure, Han indicates for him to crawl under first, urging him on. Han then follows, crawling, the abrasive dirt grazing his arms as his ignores the stings. He stands up and follows Park, running across the now clear open field in front of them, no man's land between the two countries...

Sounds of guns firing, and screaming as people are caught or shot, maybe even both, and dragged back across the originating border. Every runner knew that if they were caught they would face indefinite imprisonment with torture, failure wasn't an option, but now was not the time for fear as adrenaline coarse through their bodies pushing them on.

"Umph", as Han falls into a ditch so deep it reached his chest. The thud knocks the wind out of him, also managing to twist his ankle as he lands. Wheezing, Han grabs at the grass around the top of the ditch to haul himself back out. Upon hearing the grunt, Park freezes and turns his head over his shoulder in time to see Han's head peering out of the ditch, soldiers firing from behind and hounds nearly close enough to pounce on him. Another glance of Han... Park closes his eyes and holds his breath as he turns back to face forward, and runs, not looking back.

Park imagines the screaming as the dogs pounce, fearing Han's demise it pushes him to run faster and harder. Park doesn't look back again.

 _Present:_

Back at HQ, Reese is in the training room with Shaw, both standing in the middle of the mats. Reese uses Danny as the aid to show the other recruits some more offensive and defensive manoeuvres.

Shaw smirks as she hears a smack, followed by a faint whine before catching a glimpse of the curled up recruit on the mat. "Questions?" Enquires Reese, spotting the Shooter as she approaches them laughing a little but joins them nonetheless.

As the recruits break up into smaller groups to practise, Shaw finds herself smacking Goose on the back of the head as he does it wrong again as he goofs with Mill.

Sighing _'why am I here'_ as Shaw rubs her head, she moves on after to instruct Reina. Standing in front of her, Shaw grabs her wrists and shows her how to parry effectively, moving her arms in the right direction and correcting her stance. As she does so, the Shooter wanders into Shaw's peripheral vision. Shaw ignores her and continues with Reina, only stopped by the Shooter pretending to lunge at Shaw with her sudden movement. This makes Reina instinctively bounce out of the way leaving a gap wide enough between her and Shaw, which the Shooter then leaps into and throws a combination of punches at Shaw. Shaw jumps back in a defensive stance.

Laughing, "see, that's how it's done", speaking to the recruit but looking straight at Shaw.

Shaw shakes her head and drops her stance, only for the Shooter to lunge at her again, making Shaw stumble back and growl in agitation.

The Shooter's mischievous smirk only expands as she lifts her left leg and pivots it to the front. As she remains standing on one leg, the Shooter lifts up the material from her left pant leg revealing a still red and healing 7cm long gash along it.

Shaw smirks when she sees the gash, her own arm having faired much better as it had now healed fully. Shaw finishes the gloating by running her fingers over her once injured arm, and then lifts it for the Shooter to see herself, no mark in sight.

Smirking at the gloat, "we have unfinished business you and I" the Shooter challenges further, "and this," pointing at the training session, "is lame", finishing by lunging forward at Shaw.

In surprise Reina had backed into Danny and Ausman.

"Whoa" surprises Danny as he catches Reina, stopping her from toppling over from the collision before realising what was going on. As he does he turns and lifts a brow at Ausman who was also now watching the fight.

As a crowd gathers in, Reese frowns as he catches Shaw backing into him. "Shaw" he warns as he moves and ducks as Shaw parries and blocks another of the Shooter's round of attacks. She lifts her expression in exasperation at him clear for everyone to see, Shaw was not initiating this, _'but man was this woman quick',_ Shaw was unconsciously impressed.

With a flurry of kicks and a sweep Shaw finds herself on her back, but not without first pulling the Shooter with her to the ground. As the Shooter smashes into the mats Shaw has already rolled backwards with her momentum and back onto her feet in an offensive stance, waiting for the Shooter to stand back up. As the Shooter recovers from the knock she moves to stand, a little less gracefully, and is greeted with a strong arm wrapping around her torso, "that's enough," and is lifted away from the training room.

Root in the corner of the training room is standing rigid as she tenses from her shoulders all the way down her arms and balling her hands, _'who does she think she is',_ having seen the attack on Shaw unfold. Root had been standing in the corner for a while now adoring how her little firecracker was training the new recruits with all the patience of a restless teenager. Her face straightens and her eyes narrow slightly as Reese walks past still holding onto the Shooter. Spotting Root, and reading her subtle expression, he glances at her, _'don't'._

The crowd chattering starts to die down and the bodies dissipate away from the mats and back to what they were originally doing. Joey, having also witnessed the incident rises from the bench he was sitting on and walks towards the recruits while towelling the sweat off his face and neck.

"Right recruits, who said you could stop?" He commands as he steps in, motioning for them to continue practising.

The recruits seeing him approach stop gawking at Shaw and the now empty space around her, and get back to training.

Finally regaining herself, Root focuses her gaze back on Shaw, who is now sitting up on the mat and dusting herself off clearly agitated and confused at what just happened. Spinning round, Shaw finally spots an agitated Root, and quickly strides towards her. As soon as Shaw is close enough, Root grabs her wrist intending to pull her in for a kiss. Shaw allows Root to pull them closer together, however just before Root could connect with Shaw's lips, Shaw had already grabbed at the brown bag from Root's other hand and stalked away to the nearest bench. Root is left pouting at the loss of contact. Or more accurately, the failure of contact. Even Bear has now abandoned her as he runs and jumps around Shaw, eyeing the sandwich now in her hand. Still standing, watching Shaw now eat, Root wasn't sure whether to be amused or continue to be agitated. Amused as Shaw only notices food, and seemingly not her. Agitated because _she_ seems to continually keep pushing Shaw. Sighing, Root walks over to Shaw...

Reaching one of the meeting rooms next door, Reese drops the Shooter so quickly from his grip she doesn't have the chance to brace herself as her legs fail to stand and her butt connects with the floor.

Exhaling a puff of anger and recollecting himself, Reese simply states, "if you plan on joining us, you have to learn to play nice."

She looks up at him with an innocent face and shrugs as she rubs her butt, still sitting on the floor.

Reese shakes his head, snorts in amusement. "At least give us a name to call you..." before leaving her there to think about it.

 _Present day, next morning:_

It's a cool and damp early morning in NYC as the markets start to open up for the day. Standing casually in the commercial district under a canopy in the distance, the Shooter watches on through the heavy rain, allowing the sounds of the pitter pattering of the drops hitting the surface soothe her. Tired but determined, she watches an equally tired man go about his usual business organising his drivers for loading and deliveries.

After a while, like clockwork, the chores for the morning wrap up and he walks the four blocks back to the front of his apartment where he collects his two bounding young children who run eagerly down the steps to greet him. His wife not far behind peeks him on the cheek and waves them all goodbye as the children make their way to school with their father. The Shooter watches until the family disappear into the distance, sighing in deep thought and sadness.

Unbeknownst to the Shooter, a small dark figure was also following her, watching her, also like clockwork.

Shaw fumbles, and then stumbles through her apartment door, dropping her keys on the way in as she pushes the door wider open with her foot while trying to stabilise the swaying grocery bags in her full arms. Bear unhelpfully, and playfully, continues to dance around her in circles barking for her attention. As Root looks up from her laptop, sitting on the coach of the living room, she can't help but giggle to herself lightly at the sight.

Shaw looks up as she dumps the bags on the island in the kitchen, and her mouth drops open as her eyes ask Root the question.

Smiling at Shaw in her dark grey tailored pristine trouser suit and high heels, "I have a number to attend to" answering Shaw's eyes as she walks towards the island. Root reaches her hand out and runs it along Shaw's jaw, teasing her until she suddenly drops her hand, grabs her satchel from the island and heads out the door. Just as she exits she couldn't help herself, "have a good day honey" and shuts the door quickly before Shaw could react. Imaging Shaw's stunned and annoyed face, Root smirks all the way out of the building.

 _Past, N. Korea, city:_

Uncle and the little girl were sitting at the dining table of their small apartment, Nana busily going back towards the stove and placing plated food on the dinner table. The little girl picks up her spoon about to tuck in,

 _BANG_...

As they all jump and then watch the front door fly open. A group of uniformed soldiers walk in and create chaos, knocking over furniture, tearing and smashing anything they could get their hands on before one approaches the dinner table and flips it over.

As Nana cowers and backs into the counter tops of the open planned kitchen dining area, two soldiers continue to tower over her shouting threats, spit and wave their guns at her. Scared, the little girl starts screaming before she is slapped hard across the face, which sends her crashing from the seat and onto the ground along with the now smashed dishes and uneaten food. The little girl instantly stops screaming and curls into a protective ball, unmoving, silent tears streaming down her face.

Uncle in all his fury stands up quickly to confront the invaders but with the advantage of shock, he didn't even make it past his own chair before another two soldiers grab him by either side of his arms and drag him to the floor, punching and stomping on him. As Uncle struggles to shield himself the best he could from the attacks, a kick knocks him unconscious, and is then dragged out of the apartment.

Silence, eerie silence, now drifts over the once happy evening, the silent sobbing could now be heard from the ground as Nana snaps out of her daze and goes to the little girl, wrapping her in her own arms to comfort, and for comfort, in equal measures.

 _Present day, later that morning:_

"What kind of a name is Nox?" Snipes Jenna.

Danny looks on laughing at Jenna's confusion, and shrugs in response.

The Team snap back into attention when someone fires a shot.

Shoulders hunched and curling up, Shaw tries to make herself as small as possible as a gang member fires his machine gun in her direction, taunting her as he does it. As the Team fire back, it was notably obvious how unevenly matched in weaponry the two sides were. But then no one in the Team realised what was exactly in the crates that were being exchanged, until they were flung open and used on them.

Holding their positions, but pinned to it at the same time, each recruit tries to retaliate the best they could without getting shot themselves.

Running out of ideas quick Shaw spots Nox behind the parked car just in front of her to the left, and in this garbage ridden place that was the scrapyard. Mill was hunched over in agony beside Nox as he supports his shoulder and arm, clearly having caught two to his right side, as four gang members were closing in on them fast. Shaw catches the attention of Ausman, Danny and Goose, and indicates for them to go round the back while she caused a distraction. They nod in acknowledgement and wait for...

 _BOOM_...

Shaw had shot at the gas tank just behind the four gang members, and the four are thrown out into the open for the Shooter and Shaw to pick off with ease while Goose manages to hit the machine gun operator, and Ausman and Danny take out what's left of the gang.

As Shaw approaches the Shooter and Mill, she instructs the Shooter to keep a look out while motioning for Mill to let her inspect his injuries as she swings her black backpack to the floor in front of her and unzips it, quickly laying out the contents of the medical kit and snapping on some surgical gloves.

"You're lucky day kid, through and through on the shoulder" as Shaw peers further into it, she continues, "just missed the rotator cuff, no major ligament damage" and presses down around the hole to assess the tissue around it. Mill winces, but Shaw ignores him, continuing to focus on the wound. She then moves to the arm. Quickly assessing it, Shaw pulls out the pliers to Mill's horror.

"Is that... _Really_ necessary?" As he grimaces, stutters and then winces in pain as Shaw plunges the pliers into his injured arm.

"Well if you get shot then, YES! Stop moving" as Shaw stops momentarily to glare at him. Mill instantly stops moving.

At this point the scrapyard had been cleared, and Goose has ran over to Shaw and Mill while Ausman and Reina access damage control. After they're satisfied, they take some of the fire arm inventory from the crates for their own cause, but not so much as to make it look suspicious, and calls Fusco to arrange to pick up the gang members.

Unknown to Shaw, the Shooter had been watching her intently while she worked on Mill. The precision, the skill, the confidence, it was alluring.

Goose's movement catches Shaw's attention as she finishes with patching Mill's injuries, "wrap up, we're gone."

 _Buzz buzz..._

Nodding, Goose goes to help Ausman finish up while Shaw slips away.

Nox watches on in curiosity as she watches Shaw placing her phone back in her pocket and disappears.

 _Past, N. Korea:_

Nana is seen outside a prison shouting at the guard to let her see her son. She demanded an explanation, crying, shouting, sobbing. She drops to her knees pleading, but the guard stood unmoved and kicks at her, motioning for her to leave. She continues to plead, _'where's the justice?'_

Weeks pass by and there continues to be no news. Now numb, Nana concentrates on packing her granddaughter's small back pack as she sits on the bed obediently, quiet. Handing the little girl the back pack, she stands up and puts it on over her jacket. Her shoes already on. Nana takes her small bag and the hand of the child and leads her to the now open front door. With a final look over her shoulder and a sigh, Nana closes the front door lightly and doesn't look back again.

Reaching a small village, it was now pitch black in the still of the night. In the distance Nana spots the truck and moves faster towards it as she also catches twenty other families trying to push their way onto it. It was obvious that everyone wasn't going to fit into the truck as the smugglers begin to heckle for more money, jewellery, possessions, anything, out of these desperate people.

One too old, with one too young, Nana and granddaughter were at a disadvantage as the rabble collectively push forward, and them out of the way, almost stomping over them in the panicked chaos. The little girl stays quiet but looks at Nana, confused, too young to understand. Staring at her grand child she regains her strength, and with determination pushes to the front of the crowd. Conviction allows her to shove and elbow and remove any barrier out of her way. Reaching the front of the rabble, Nana demands the attention of the leader, who looks threateningly at her. Seeing pure determination in Nana's eyes, the smuggler backs down a little. To help the situation, Nana rips her small gold chain off her neck and dangles it in front of the smuggler. Smirking, he reaches out to grab it, but Nana pulls it back and stares at him. He growls and yells at the old woman to get in the truck before taking the child and then helping Nana into the back of it.

Inside the dark, confined, and already crowded truck, Nana makes a space for her and her granddaughter to sit. It wasn't long after that until the engine started and they were on their way.

 _Present day, that evening:_

Needing to stop by her apartment to change her clothing, Shaw ends up running the last two blocks as her phone continues to buzz intermittently. Annoyed she thinks _'what can be so import...'_ Shaw stops in her tracks peering in through a corner of the window.

Inside, she sees two nerds trying to balance their spoon on their nose, followed by giggling and crashing of metal as they try to out do each other. Shaw watches as Gen is about to complete the challenge before Root, sneakily, moves in and tickles her. There it was again, the laughter, _that_ smile on Gen's face, something that Shaw knew she could never give Gen.

"Shawkat!" Gen shouts as she spots her through the window, instantly snapping Root away from their moment to look up and find Shaw watching them, watching her.

"Shawkat, Shawkat, Shawkat!..." As the sound gets louder, and Gen is now pulling Shaw into the ice cream shop. All the while Shaw gazes intensely at Root, who suddenly finds herself blushing, squeezing her lips together in sudden self consciousness.

As Gen pushes Shaw down onto a seat at the table, Gen crashes in beside her and proceeds in telling Shaw of all her stories like canon fire; exploding all at once with her arms flailing like an overly melodramatic actress on stage, and occasionally punching Shaw for effect.

As Shaw listens on, finding amusement at Gen, she leans back in her chair continuing to hold Root's hand as Root continues to draw circles on the back of hers.


	22. INSERT: The Shooter - Eyes on You

Cht 22

INSERT: The Shooter - Eyes on You

 **'Her muscular body, the well defined arms, so toned, the line so beautiful.**

 **The sweat of her brow. The concentration mesmerising. Her skill, alluring...**

 **I see her, but she doesn't see me.'**

* * *

 _ **'Sitting next to me, it makes me smile. A simple action is all it takes.**_

 _ **As we fight, together, you help save me from harm, pure adrenaline.**_

 _ **They are no match for us, and it feels good.'**_

* * *

 _'I see you, seeing me, I love it when you get possessive._

 _The way you look at me, the way you appreciate my body._

 _I love it when you pretend, but in the end you know I'll get my way.'_


	23. Perspective (Part 2)

Cht 23

Perspective (Part 2)

 _Present day, downtown NYC:_

As Nox rounds and stretches her neck, she stands on the street corner watching as an expensive car pulls up, and two young children hop out and into the school grounds, the father waving them off as usual. She looks at her watch. Like clockwork. As she looks up to continue following the target, Nox jumps slightly as the small figure following her is standing right behind her.

"You know it's creepy stalking people right?" Shaw muses at seeing her jump.

Nox shuts her eyes acknowledging that she has been caught, and slowly turns around opening her eyes to a jogging gear clad Shaw, Bear sitting beside her panting and also staring at Nox with Root's trademark tilt of the head. It was unusual to see Shaw out of her usual black skinnies, and equally black top and hoodie. Well, okay, she was still wearing a black hoodie.

Smiling mischievously, "can't a girl stand on a street corner enjoying the early morning air", Nox replies, innocently.

Unamused, "yeah sure, cause a girl standing on a street corner in full view of an elementary is, _normal_ ".

Nox shrugs at the remark, not giving anything further away, "nice to know you care", she muses.

"Whatever", Shaw rolls her eyes and begins to walk away, Bear in tow.

Nox smirks and continues to watch as Shaw is now jogging further into the distance.

The recruits Ausman, Goose, Reina and Danny are called to the firing range out on the farm, a couple hours from NYC.

As time heals, Goose begins to move out of his mourning for Vespa, Mill is left back in the office with his slow healing arm, and Jenna had gone home to continue with her recovery from the gun shot wound. Today, they had to make do with just four from the group of recruits.

"Are you cream puffs just gonna stand there?" Fusco shakes his head at them indicating for them to start as they all look to each other in apprehension for what was going to come.

Behind Fusco was an obstacle shooting course where there were a series of barriers, walls and objects that each recruit had to get over or dodge whilst also shooting at the correct target.

"Yeah! Now _that_ is what I'm talking about!" Enthuses Danny as he finally spots the shooting course.

"Ok hotshot, you get to go first!" Fusco smirks.

"Live ammo, ready?" The course marshal calls to Danny as he loads his hand gun.

 _Click,_ "ready!" Danny shouts and runs in. Shooting through his first two rooms, Danny turns a corner to jump over a chair in the room and fires at a moving target.

Alarms sound and the marshal shouts, "Shooter over!" indicating that Danny's first attempt is over and failed.

Amused, _'this looks fun',_ Nox watches on, having just arrived at the farm herself. As she walks to where the recruits had gathered, she notices Shaw was sitting with Reese on the benches a short distance away, watching and assessing the recruits.

Ausman jumps up to go next, he doesn't make it past the first room, ' _damn it'_ as he wanders back to the group, head down. The ego bruised _so_ much more harshly than the failure alone.

Goose then follows before Reina, the last to try, but the one who got the furthest. As the day wore on the recruits got more competitive with each other. As the day grew thinner, the recruits got more frustrated with themselves for not being able to complete the course.

Fusco snorts watching the cream puffs melt.

As Nox laughs at Goose after he runs into a wall on his third attempt at the course, she glances over her shoulder at Shaw, and notices how amused she was. _'Ok, my turn'_ , as Nox then steps forward, indicating her wish to try the course.

"Shooter ready?" As the marshal stands next to Nox at the start of the course. The routine starting to become ground hog day for the marshal.

She nods and smiles before running in. _Zip-zip-zip..._ Gracefully ducking and out manoeuvring the obstacles and getting through the course with ease. As the last target pops up, she shoots at it with confidence.

"Clear! Shooter over!" As the marshal calls the end and completion of the course.

Smirking, she looks over at the dumb founded but impressed recruits, and shrugs at them in reply. Nox then turns to head slightly to glance at Shaw, _'was she watching?'_

"Impressive!"

Nox jumps at the sudden voice, now noticing that there is a figure standing beside her, grinning.

"You know, I _am_ holding _LIVE_ ammo" she deadpans holding her gun in the air for Joey to see.

Joey shrugs, "can't give a girl a complement? Tough crowd" he teases, and walks to the shop to grab a cold drink. "Ffffff," shaking his head, "hot day!" As he wipes his forehead with the back of his hand and continues to walk away from her.

Nox stares after him momentarily, before unloading and locking the weapon, placing it back on the table for the marshal, and then follows Joey's trail to the shop.

"Take a break guys, and gal," as he looks to Reina, "get some water." Hoping that a break would boost morale and get these kids to focus better.

"How about it Shaw?" Reese challenges.

Shaw looks at him, and that was all she needed to say as Reese stands up from the benches, and walks over to the course while he pulls out his gun.

Standing at the start and cocking his gun, Reese smooths out his suit and nods at the marshal as his challenge begins. _Zip-zip-zip..._ He jumps and takes cover, _zip-zip-zip..._ And slides through the other room avoiding the obstacle. Ducking and turning with both speed and grace. Reaching the last obstacle a target pops up, he waits, and the second simultaneously pops up, _zip-zip..._ As he completes the last target, "clear!"

"Clear, Shooter over!" The marshal shouts, to both confirm the end of the challenge for Reese. "Do you want to know your score now Sir?" The marshal asks Reese.

Smiling, "not yet. Let's see what Shaw does" as he flicks his head at her, _'beat that!'_

Scoffing, _'ha'_ , Shaw stands at the ready, and runs in as the marshal indicates to start.

She too jumps and manoeuvres easily around the obstacles, rolling and sliding along the ground, using momentum to push herself forward. _Zip-zip-zip,_ as she continues to shoot, also with accuracy. "Clear!"

"Clear, Shooter over!" The marshal confirms as Shaw also completes the course.

Reese has now wandered over next to Shaw and the marshal, while the others having spotted the sparring begin, had abandoned their break and are now inching closer to hear the scores.

From a safe distance and out of earshot of the three, "it's gonna be Shaw!" Throws in Reina with excitement. Danny nods and laughs in agreement.

"No WAY! The Man all the way!" Goose fights back.

Ausman chips in, "Reese has got it, no contest!"

Nox watches from a short distance behind the recruits, but close enough to hear everyone's chatter. She senses a body coming towards her, before finally stopping beside her.

"Intense" Joey simply says smiling while also looking to Reese and Shaw, "who do you think will take it?"

Smirking, Nox doesn't reply, but looks towards Shaw.

Sir, 50 targets" the marshal announces, and pauses as everyone tenses up. "Ma'am... 50 targets" he finishes laughing.

"Oh man, a draw" Goose was disappointed.

Fusco scoffs as he takes a swig of the cold beer in his hand. Fusco knew better, there's always something between these two, and waits for that something to follow.

Turning his attention from the marshal to Shaw, "looks like it's a draw," as he draws out her name "Shaw".

Mischievous, Shaw looks straight back at Reese, _'yeah, right!'_

Both now continuing to stare each other out as the marshal looks at the last targets, "Sir, you have a double tap score on your last target"

Reese smirks and cocks his head at Shaw, _'ha'._

Shaw raises her eyebrows in surprise at hearing it.

Then the marshal looks at the other last target, holding it up, "but this one is a triple tap score" as the marshal finishes, a little surprised himself. Usually only Olympic and professional sport shooters would try it on the course as they try to out do each other, but even that was rarely pulled off successfully.

Reese's smirk turns to surprise as Shaw's surprise turns to a gloating smirk.

They stare at each other a little longer before sharing a chuckling, which breaks the tension, and the competition between them for the day. Reese acknowledges Shaw's win, and heads back to join the recruits and Fusco in gracious defeat. Upon reaching them, Fusco hands him a consolatory cold beer.

Joey breaks the silence, "that was cool huh?" As he turns to gage Nox.

Nox doesn't reply, and is instead watching as Shaw is now walking up to that woman, who is leaning onto the hood of her car, arms crossed, smiling, swaying. _'Who wears a leather jacket in this heat?'_

As Reese walks away, he clears the line of sight, and she instantly spots her, _'of course she is'_

As Root watched Reese challenge Shaw, she couldn't help but smile at the prospect, _'kids'_ , she thinks warmly.

Now seeing Shaw stalk towards her, even without saying anything, Shaw always knew how to make a girl feel special. Always looking to seek Root out, it's as if everything else disappeared whenever Shaw found what she was seeking. And Root started to swayed at the comforting thought, smiling to herself.

"Hey Sweetie" as Root hums and then grins, Shaw is now standing in front of her, in her personal space. Shaw _never_ stands this close to her in public.

Still gazing intensely at Root, "what are you doing here?" Shaw barks.

Smiling adoringly at her, "can't a couple of gals take some time out to catch up?"

"Thought you were working a number, haven't seen you in two days!"

… _... 'Is... Did... Is Shaw upset, at me?...'_ Root's eyes widen and another creeping wide grin tries to usurp Root's mouth again. Looking at Shaw near growling in annoyance, Root tries to suppress it, and presses her lips tight together, her eyes betraying her magnificently.

Realising what she had just admitted to, Shaw regains herself a little with a sudden side glance as her expression softens before returning her gaze at Root, "and who wears a leather jacket in this heat, do you want heatstroke?!" As Shaw pushes her hands under the lapels of the jacket.

Root's heart flutters, even when annoyed at her Shaw is still tentative, as she watches Shaw slide her arms under the lapel of her jacket and over the back of her shoulders, taking off the jacket. As the jacket is removed, Root leans further back onto the hood of the car, half sitting on it, she places her hands in on the back of Shaw's pant pockets and pushes Shaw on top of her. Whispering into Shaw's ear, she teases "did you miss me?!" Before pulling her head away and looking back at Shaw.

Shaw looks up at Root, half fallen on top, in between Root's legs. Shaw's eyes then scan down Root's body, slowly. _'What is she pac...'_ Before snapping back up to look at Root.

Root's own eyes widen a little knowing that Shaw knows. Teasing Shaw further, Root first squeezes Shaw's ass, "hmmm", and then slides her palms out of Shaw's back pockets and places them on Shaw's chest. Drawing them up over her shoulders, and then down around her upper arms. Root continues to draw in circles, slowing, taking in Shaw's toned muscles, easily done since she was wearing a black tank top, before stopping, with both hands resting on Shaw's chest. Smiling mischievously and looking back up at Shaw, "the winner should collect her prize..."

And they were gone.

Bashfully rubbing the back of his neck, "I don't think I can shoot a double, never mind three", as Nox now turns to the person next to her, and sees a bemused but soft expression staring back at her.

 _The next morning:_

Nox turns around with excitement, only for her expression to turn to disappointment as she spots who it is. Choosing to ignore the reason behind the change, Reese teases "you know, stalking is still illegal right?"

"Why are you following me? First Shaw, now you", replies Nox in annoyance, more because she was caught again, unaware to their presence, or so she tells herself.

"You know why", as he flicks his head at the family in the distance on what appears to be a normal day out where kids are eating ice cream playing happily, while the parents walk just as happy behind them hand in hand and keeping a watchful eye over the children as they all soak up the warm relaxing day.

Raising his eyebrows, "you know how this works. We got your number the day we met, remember?"

"And here I thought you were recruiting me for my skills", she snarks.

"We were. At first we thought you were the perpetrator" he pauses to let her digest the conversation, "but after Control was no longer a threat, you're number was still up. So here we are."

"What do you want?"

"You tell me."

"To leave me alone, this is personal."

"You know I can't do that". Reese turns and looks out across to the family. "Some things just aren't worth it. You can still walk away."

"It's too late", Nox spits, clearly agitated.

Smiling, "then what are you doing still standing here?"

Surprised, "what?!"

"If it's too late then why hasn't it happened already?"

Nox opens her mouth to respond, but only a snarl emits.

"There is nothing obvious in your records. You arrived in the US with your Mom, on a boat. Immigration granted you both asylum. You served in the Navy, took up archery, shot for the US as a junior..." Shaking his head and grimacing, "worked for Control... And _so_ not going to go there!" As he looks at her teasingly, before pausing further to think, but coming up empty. Turning his gaze back to Nox, "what are we missing?"

Silence.

Reese continues to look at Nox, before she finally concedes in an almost whisper, her anger softening, "I need to know", as sadness and confusion takes over her tone.

"Okay," Reese replies in confusion in the sudden change of mood, "then let's find out... But you're gonna have to fill us in on the details first" urges Reese.

 _Past, somewhere between N. Korea and China:_

Lost in time, the truck sudden swerves uncontrollably as it speeds up, the engines huffing louder under the strain. The other people in the back of the truck start to get nervous, and the little girl is startled awake by the growing tension.

Sirens suddenly alarm so loudly everyone would have jumped were they not all bouncing around the back of the truck already from the jostling. Sounds of several other trucks were then heard behind them, getting louder.

"Stop! Or we _will_ open fire!" As the soldier's voice booms over the megaphone.

The panic of the people in the back of the truck escalates to uncontrolled screaming and crying as they continue to hold on for dear life, panicking. With the truck still moving, they were at the mercy of the driver.

After taking another corner violently, the truck loses control and flips over several times before crashing and sliding along the muddy tracks of the forest, only shuddering to a halt as it slams into some thick trees.

Groans ring out, and the little girl peers out from under her Nana. Nana had thrown herself over her granddaughter, embracing her, sheltering her from impact. A young woman beside them, quickly realising the situation, gets up, wincing in pain, and starts to run to exit the truck. As she passes Nana, Nana grabs her arm with such force the young woman nearly falls back down onto the floor of the truck from the tug of the vice grip hand.

Not letting go for dear life, "please!" Nana pleads, "Please!" As she looks straight at the young woman in desperation.

The young woman stops trying to wriggle her arm free, and looks down at Nana, then to the back of the truck, where the view of soldiers getting closer to them frightens her. Others from the truck were already scrambling out as groans and screams of pain continue to echo through the empty dark forest air.

"Please!" Nana cries, the full force of her pain vibrating through the young woman's body. Nana breaks the gaze from the woman and looks down to her granddaughter.

The young woman follows her gaze to the child, then back to the soldiers screaming at the runaways, "stop", as they chase after them. Returning her gaze back to Nana, the young woman nods, and without hesitation, quickly kisses the little girl on her head, and lets go of the young woman to lift and throw her granddaughter into the young woman's arms, adrenaline giving her all the energy she needed.

The little girl turns her head to look back at her Nana in confusion, and hears her soft words for the last time, "it's gonna be ok", and drops her arms from her granddaughter.

As the young woman lifts the little girl into her own arms, a genuine "thank you" is heard as the young woman nods and runs to exit the truck. Low sobs can be heard behind her.

Not sure why her Nana was crying, the little girl reacts also with silent tears rolling down her face, watching as if in slow motion, the sight of Nana disappearing...

Nana sobs her last silent tears, unheard by the few remaining sleeping bodies scattered around her. Would it have been comforting for the little girl to know that Nana would soon see her sons again?

 _Present day:_

The man, with the two small children, and a loving wife, was now lying side on, unconscious, on the floor. As he starts to come to, he begins to sense how cold the side of his face is, before noticing that his hands are also bound behind his back as he tries to wriggle free. Unable to see in the dark, he jolts and his body straightens and tenses in the panic. Blinking his eyes and shaking his head, and still only seeing black, he then notices there is a hood over his head, his sharp inhaling drawing part of the material to his mouth. Dazed, he sits up before hesitating, "hello?" Silence, as he realises his head is spinning. Remembering a thump in the back of the head in the parking lot where his shop is located, the man starts panicking again, "hello?" What do you want? Hello?... Where am I?..." As he continues to plead, "please, do you want money, I can give you money!" Still cowering as he hunches his shoulders and dipping his head into his chest.

"Money! Can that buy a friend's life?" Joey barks menacingly at the man, startling him with the sudden voice.

"What?!... Have you got the wrong guy buddy? What are you talking about?"

"When you were running for freedom, did you look back for your friends?" Joey continues shouting, "You coward, no!... You were too busy running for your own life! Save yourself!"

"Wha... What... No... No, what?!" As the man begins to shake.

Sensing the break, Joey pushes further "what's the matter? Live a good life here, your children, a _beautiful_ wife, then forget about all those you left behind, tortured, killed" he snarls.

"Who are you?!" The man demands as he tries to push the hood from his eyes, now clearly confusingly agitated. "I didn't kill anyone!"

"No" Joey barks, "you just leave them behind to die as you run to China, then to _your_ Land of Dreams!" Joey pauses and inches down closer to the sitting man, and in a low threatening tone, "now you have your dreams, but at what cost?!"

Pausing, the man's mouth had parted in shock, before saying in a calm and surprised voice, "H... Han? Are you here?"

A little taken aback by the man's sudden change in tone and his shoulders relaxing as he lifts his head from his chest and looks up to the voice speaking to him. Joey stands back up and moves slightly away from him before continuing, "why do you care, you left him to die!" He snarks in reply.

"Han?" The man calls in tender softness, "are you... _Really,_ here?" As the man's voice softens further in gentleness before his eyes tear up, and his voice begins to choke.

Hearing the sincerity, Joey jerks to a stop in surprise, _'ok, I didn't see that coming',_ and looks to Reese and Nox standing a short distance behind the restrained man for an indication on how to continue this interrogation.

Annoyed, Nox strides forward and abruptly removes the hood from the man's head, biting "don't pretend!" Snarling as she stares at him with anger in her eyes, finger also pointing towards his face.

The man blinks away his tears as his eyes come into focus, now confused at the young woman standing over him.

Nox, seeing the man's eyes, can see the tears in them, so gentle.

It takes him a moment longer before his eyes widen at the realisation, "Ki?"

Surprised, but still angry, Nox replies in a low and callous voice, "why do you care?"

In gasps of exasperation, "Ki!"... "Ki!, _really?!..._ You're alive!?... "They said you were dead, you died with Nana." Shaking his head at the disbelief, as Nox looks and backs away from him. "Ki!" he calls with affection, before standing and moving towards her, to embrace her, only he is thrown back onto the ground as the chain around his leg stops him as it is stretched to it's max. Lying back on the floor, leaning his forehead onto the cold concrete, he begins to laugh, in disbelief, in shock.

Hearing the laughter, Nox directs her anger, growing anger, back at the man. "Don't pretend," she continues to snarl in a low accusing voice, "you left him to die!... You left papa to die!"

Joey watches on in concern as he spots Nox balling her hands and hunching her shoulders, shaking.

Not even registering the pain of the fall, and realising what she must be thinking, "it wasn't like that, believe me, you were a daughter to me!" Before shaking his head, "you are a daughter to me! Your father was my brother! You were all my family too!"

Still seething, "then why did you leave him!?"

"I..." Now kneeling in front of her, the man drops his head again, hanging it in shame. "I wasn't strong enough" he concedes before his tears finally begin to fall down his face. "He was always the strong one." Trying to suppress the emotions, but failing, he cries. His shallow and hitched breaths echoing through the empty space.

 _Past, N. Korea and China Border zone:_

Sounds of guns firing and screams of people vibrate through the otherwise silent night, as potential refugees are caught or shot, maybe even both, and dragged back across the original border. Everyone knew that if they were caught they would face indefinite imprisonment and torture, failure wasn't an option, but now was not the time for fear as adrenaline coarse through their bodies.

Hearing a grunt followed by a cry of pain, Park freezes and turns his head over his shoulder to see Han's head peering out of a ditch, soldiers firing from behind and hounds nearly close enough to pounce on him.

Spotting that Park had stopped and is now looking back at him, "goooooooooooo, Park!" Han screams as he pushes himself out of the ditch in time to jump on the two guards about to run past him and towards Park, his friend, his brother. "Gooooooooooo!" He continues to scream as he wrestles the guards to the ground.

Another glance of Han... Park closes his eyes and holds his breath as he turns back to face forward. With tears in his eyes, Park begins to run, run faster, and faster, and faster through rhe open field, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarggghhhhhhhh..." as he wills his legs on. Park doesn't look back again.

He sits, in the refugee camp across the border, China, tears long since dried. Determined.

Months later Park managed to secure a boat ride to the USA, almost drowning along the way. Determined to honour Han's sacrifice he would make it to the USA, fulfil their much talked about American Dream... Find Nana and Ki, and even Han's little brother, his little brother.

It would take Park years working in the underground, scrounging and living in shelters before he saved enough to start his own shop. All the while he would send money to investigators to help find the adopted family he left behind. The investigators though would always report back with nothing.

He thought his world had ended when one investigator came back to report of a stowaway truck crashing in the forest, and many had perished, including Nana. Park had assumed Ki had perished with Nana. The woman who pulled Park back from his black hole became his wife, but Park had continued to hold onto his grief, his burden to bear.

Nox would later learn that his son was named Han, and his daughter Ki.


	24. INSERT: Downtime

Cht 24

INSERT: Downtime

Watching as Daizo plays Bombjack with Gen on the huge computer screens in the office, both of them making their own special effect sounds as they progress through the game,"I appreciate you and Ms Shaw keeping an eye on Ms Zhirova, but this is hardly the place for a young woman to be over the summer."

In mock surprise,"Harold, it's Gen." As they both look back over to Gen flailing her arms and elbows tapping at the controller after having just stuffed as many chi chi dangos as she could into her mouth, and is now struggling to chew them as she distorts her face continuing to try munch on them. Daizo had stopped momentarily to pop one of the sweets in his own mouth, paused to amuse at Gen, before continuing to challenge her in the game. Finch grimaces slightly as Root chuckles at the vision, "this is exactly the place for her."

Exhaling a long breath, Finch shakes his head, but Root was right. _'And Ms Zhirova is becoming alarmingly more like Ms Shaw with each passing day.'_

In the bar sitting at a table, Fusco watches as Shaw steals yet another, and munches on his fries, while Reese sits quietly drinking his beer. Bear is eyeing Shaw for some fries as he pants on her arm on the table. And the bar is filling up as the evening grows old.

The front door opens and Finch holds it open for Root to walk in first. Spotting Shaw, Root smiles adoringly over at her, and makes her way over. "John, Lionel" Root lilts.

"Mr Reese, Ms Shaw" Finch greets before turning slightly "Detective, I didn't realise you would be here as well", smiling at Fusco in happy surprise.

Fusco turns his head towards him to return the greeting, "likewise, Finch".

As Reese spots Iris from the window, she nods her head at him in indication. "Time to go" Reese confirms as he finishes the last of his beer, and places the empty bottle back down on the table before heading out to Iris. Upon reaching her, Iris beams as she loops her arm around Reese as they walk down the street and into the distance together.

Fusco looks at his back, mouth hanging open, but nothing is said. As he turns his head forward he witnesses Shaw also standing as she is being being dragged away by Root. Seeing Fusco's disgusted _'where are you going?'_ expression, Root tilts her head and smiles at him, Root's way of saying goodbye as they too head for the door. Fusco's mouth drops further open as he turns to Shaw, who just shrugs. Turning to Finch, who is still standing, and has been since he arrived. "Who'd have thought your two hounds would become such leashed puppies, Finch!?" He comments, incredulously.

Surprised at Fusco's abrasive words, Finch is not sure how to respond. Now holding onto Bear's leash, Shaw had slipped it into his hand upon exiting, Finch shifts his eyes towards the door.

"Not you too!?" Fusco comments disappointed.

"I'm sorry Detective, I only came to get Bear, and now have to go meet with Grace and Ms Zhirova" as he grins in discomfort. He makes a motion to leave, but stops. _'This is awkward'_ before apologetically looking at Fusco again and moving towards the door. Just as Finch is about to exit he spots a familiar face, and dips his hat at her in acknowledgement before exiting.

"That's fine then, I'll sit here by myself" as Fusco calls into Finch's back and Bear's behind, before finishing the grumbling to himself, "and eat my curly fries, with no one" and throws the frie back onto the plate before exhaling forcefully a puff of breath.

Chuckling and making her way over, "Jesus Fusco, even the dog left you!"

Fusco looks up from his fries to see a familiar figure standing over him chuckling. "Why are you always busting my chops? Did I stand on your tail or something?"

"Are you always this charming with everyone?... Ah... That's why they left you isn't it?!" Monica teases further, matching Fusco's banter.

Fusco quickly snaps his mouth shut again.

"Well I'm here, and it's a long evening" she encourages.

Shaking his head and chuckling, Fusco changes his tone, "what would the lady like to drink" as he also calls over the wait staff.

Monica continues to laugh, also shaking her head as she sits down.


	25. Who you choose to be

Cht 25

Who you choose to be

 _'That look, oh God, not that look!'_ Shaw watches as Root stands and walks around the breakfast bar to her side, continuing to walk behind her back, running her hand seductively across her shoulder as she does so, before stopping right next to her. So close. Shaw slowly swallows a gulp of air as she looks back into Root's eyes. _'Not the pleading face. Don't look Shaw, don't...'_ Shaw shudders as Root reaches out and starts rubbing her back, sending small jolts of electricity up Shaw's spine, breaking her slowly, torture. Shaw breathes in a long drawn breath before exhaling again and licks her drying lips. Root sighs as she drags her hand across, and off Shaw's back, then leans back into the breakfast bar continuing to tease, as Shaw's armour splinters, and starts cracking...

 _BANG BANG BANG..._

The front door.

No one moves.

A scuffling noise, and Gen then walks into the tension as the door opens. Her eyes shift from side to side as her expression furrows witnessing the two stare each other, unflinching. Hitting her hand with his nose, Bear whimpers into it. Rolling her eyes and patting Bear on the head, Gen closes the front door before plodding her way into the kitchen past the two, and helps herself to some pancakes and milk from the fridge. As Gen puts the dish and glass down on the breakfast bar, she glances back, both still motionless, still staring at each other.

"Can you two get a room or something, you're making me sick!" As she thumps down onto the bar stool, fork from the drawer now in hand.

Root continues to gaze at Shaw, a smile creeping across her face as Shaw slowly turns her head to glare at Gen.

"One second your killing each other, the other your both all, yuck" as Gen screws up her face. "You know you're both insane right?!" Gen finishes with a _'I'm disgusted at your lover's quarrel'_ look staring right back at Shaw.

Incredulously, "you just broke into _our_ apartment, again!" As Shaw points out the obvious.

Gen stops eating and grins at Shaw, showing all her teeth.

Shaking her head and turning back to look at Root, Shaw gets up from her seat and goes to the front door. Grabbing the lead on the way, Shaw whistles, and Bear comes bounding to her as she clips the lead onto Bear's collar.

Root turns around and looks over at Gen who is giving her the _'what'_ shrug and _'I'm innocent'_ face. Chuckling softly, Root shakes her head and pulls a drawer open, and Gen hears Root pull something out, and place it on the bar in front of her, _clink._ Pausing long enough to hear Gen's jaw drop, Root turns to the front door where Shaw is waiting for her, and they share a smile together. Root grabs her leather jacket and pulls it on as the three exit the apartment leaving Gen still sitting, speechless, staring at her own set of apartment keys.

* * *

Sooooooo, Ausman, what's that about?" Mill muses.

"That one's pretty obvious isn't it?" Ausman lifts his eyebrows in surprise at Mill, who is a little clueless. "Mate, give you a hint, the accent! Why, you wanted to be a windmill or something?"

Mill looked horrified and scrunches his face at Ausman's reply as the others laugh at his expense.

Lounge around the kitchen area of the office continuing to suss each other's background and deal, their thoughts are momentarily interrupted with the arrival of Shaw, Root and Bear, where Bear subsequently runs across the room knocking things over and causing mischief momentarily before halting at Shaw's harsh instruction. Bear returns to the couple, tongue hanging out, merrily ignorant at the chaos just caused, and Root pouts at Shaw before bending down and patting Bear to console him.

"You were just saying hi to everyone weren't you boy?" And scratches behind Bear's ear. Bear than walks off to his own office, that is, where his toys, dog bed and water bowl have been laid out for him.

Shaw just rolls her eyes at Root, shakes her head slightly and walks to the command post for a new number and updates.

Danny and Reina watch on in silence, warmed by the transaction, _'there's hope for us'_ , as they continue in secret.

Already at the command post, Reese looks round the office, but Nox was still not there. Acknowledging to himself, _'she needs time to recover',_ as he focuses back on the new numbers coming in.

* * *

A slow, and long, intake of breath... Exhaling, focus, _'there is only me and the target_... Inhaling... The stomach expanding outwards as it fills with air, ' _the strength, the delicacy on the tips of my fingers'..._ Exhaling slowly in one long unbroken even breath.

The feel of the light breeze passes through the broken windows and tickles over her skin gently as the corrugated metal sheet walls whistle. Pigeons can be heard burring in the background as they gather for their morning chat, walking about in all directions as if they were at a morning exercise class. Nox closes her eyes and feels the texture of the string on her fingertips, and opens them again, looking straight through the scope, ' _X marks the spot'_. Aiming at the target, she inhales slowly, taking her time, holding her posture, her line, exhaling, she extends the form of her shoulders and draws back on the string, pulling, and with it the arrow, curling her bicep, her shoulder following with. Extending the opposite arm, inhaling focusing, _'X marks the spot',_ exhale...

BANG!... Ping, clang clang, clatter...

Birds are heard fluttering and grumbling as the group fly off, startled by the sudden loud noise which continues to echoe through the abandoned empty skeleton building.

Closing her eyes, a slow inhale of breath as she now uses the technique to keep calm. Taking in a couple more deep and long breaths, she grits her teeth and turns her head over her shoulder to be greeted back by an apologetic grin, as he picks up the offending case and stands back up. Nox turns to face the target, she looks at the five arrows on the 'x', and the other, lying on the ground, in pieces.

After being frightened by the sudden loud noise, Nox had let go of the string as her body flinched, sending the last arrow flying off to the side before it hit a pillar and brought the arrow clattering to the ground, broken. Nox grimaces, before staring annoyed at the man now standing in front of her on her imaginary shooting line.

Still grinning, and hunching his shoulders up, "sorry?"

"What's it with you guys and stalking?"

"Uh..." As he shifts his eyes side to side awkwardly, "just... Just wanted to check up on you after..." As he bares his teeth in awkwardness, "you know..." Joey continues, only half completing his sentences, not sure how comfortable Nox is with his knowledge of her life's story.

Joey watches as Nox strides away to her target and pull out her five remaining arrows, before walking back. She turns around and stands back on the shooting line, before finally turning her head to Joey with a look of, _'why are you still here?'_

"I come, in peace?" As Joey raises the case that he had been cradling in his arms all this time. Nox raises an eyebrow looking at the black case, and Joey leans closer in, teasing her. As Nox looks back up to Joey, he grins and squats to lay the case down horizontally on the ground. Unclipping it to open it, he then spins the case around revealing the item.

Eyes widening, Nox's mouth drops open...

Inside the case is a re-engineered sleek carbon bow. No doubt Pierce's R&D lab had been busy.

* * *

"Oh I'm so sorry..." As Root bumps into the white collar by _accident_ in the middle of a crowded coffee house.

As the white collar wipes his crisp white shirt now stained with coffee, he looks up about to shout at the idiot, only he closes his mouth again at the sight of Root as she fumbles with some napkins and moves to pat the victim in an attempt to absorb some of the coffee stain.

Watching on from a table within the coffee house, shaking her head at Mill who has his mouth hanging slightly open, watching, "it's just as well Shaw isn't here, otherwise you'd be melted cheese" Reina muses. Mill snaps out of his daze, sits up straight and closes his mouth.

Root is wearing a tight fitting tailored red dress and black rimmed glasses with a business satchel hanging on her shoulder on top of a three quarter black feminine lined business jacket. Her black heels further extending the already long legs.

"It's ok" reassures white collar, "are you ok? Nothing spilt on you did it?"

Smiling a wide smile, "no I'm fine" as Root moves to keep giving white collar more napkins. "Let me get you another coffee, it's the least I can do!"

Looking at his watch, "you know what, I don't have time, I have a meeting in 10"

"Are you sure, I'm so sorry" furthers Root, apologetically.

Shaking his head slightly with a smile, "it's fine", and he leaves the coffee house for the office.

As white collar leaves, Jenna who was waiting outside, follows him from a distance.

Root looks over at the two recruits and flicks her head in indication that it was time to leave themselves.

* * *

"Good morning, Mr Harris" greets Danny as he opens the door of the limo to an aging man with greying hair, furious expression and blue suit.

The man grunts in reply.

"I don't care that he has lived there for three generations, do whatever it takes to move them!" As blue suit continues to shout down his phone as the limo drives off.

Danny looks slightly to his colleague for the day, another security guard on Harris' staff list. The colleague takes his eyes off the road momentarily to give Danny a quick glance and a shrug, it wasn't unusual for Harris to talk this way.

* * *

As white collar leaves the meeting room with his business partners, he spots a familiar face in the short distance, "hey, girl in the red dress!" He calls, walking towards Root.

Root turns to the suit, looking at him with a blank expression.

"You know, the guy you bumped into this morning," and moves his jacket aside to reveal the coffee stain.

"Oh... I'm so sorry about that. And hey, you're..." As Root looks around the room. "Here."

Laughing, "yeah, my team and I were called in for a consult. Didn't think I would see _you_ again", as Root watches him scan his eyes down, and then back up her body before meeting her eyes again and smiling casually as if he wasn't just checking her out, "do you work here?"

Shaking her head, "no, I'm also a consultant, IT" as Root lifts the cords she was playing with as she was setting up some systems before the interruption.

"Ah... Well, you still owe me a coffee. How about it?" White collar questions with his confident swagger and continuing honey will melt smile. Clean shaved and well dressed, he knew how to impress.

"I really can't at the moment, I need to finish this project soon, tight schedule" as Root fake teases.

"Here's my business card, call me when you're done" as white collar hands over his business card.

Taking it, Root reads the name with a cocked eyebrow, "Matthew Ackers, business data analyst", before looking back up to Matthew with her sweet smile.

Encouraged by Root's smile, "just Matt!"

 _'Seriously?!'_ As Mill looks on from one of the office desk pods looking on, _'that worked?'_

Reina who is sitting a couple desks away from him chuckles as she catches a glimpse of Mill before turning back to Root playing out her scene.

Having not left yet, Root looks at Matt expectantly.

Chuckling lightly, "do I get a name, or do I have to keep calling you girl in the red dress?" He continues to flirt.

Chuckling too, "Sophia Wilson" she informs Matt tilting her head.

"Nice to meet you Sophia" as he stretches out his hand, "I really hope you will call me", a glint in his eye.

Root returns the handshake, and watches Matthew step away, and back to his consultation.

* * *

 _Boom..._

An explosion, followed by a fire as the barn starts to burn furiously. Shouting can be heard, followed by horses running from the stalls and out the large extended barn. Stable hands, jockeys, trainers and any nearby staff start running around grabbing pales of water trying to dampen the fire, while others open the stalls to allow for the horses to run to safety.

From a distance, standing behind a series of parked cars along the street outside the stables, Reese spots Harper encouraging the horses out the stables. As she turns and spots Reese,

 _Boom..._

Another explosion as the fire catches the second propane tank on the opposite of the barn. The adjacent barn and sheds near by also catch on fire. The now raging inferno heat drives everyone to evacuate the stables as they run for the fire meeting point in the car park, nothing more they could do but wait for the fire department to arrive. Harper follows the crowd to the car park, blending in with the rest of the staff.

* * *

Running into one of the long tabled meeting rooms in his office building, "Mr Harris", interrupts his secretary, as Harris and the rest of the employees sitting at the table look up at the secretary, "there's been a fire at the stables", before pausing, "you're wife..."

Standing outside, just to the side of the meeting room door, Danny confirms the fire as its transmitted over his comms.

* * *

Reese sits in the car looking out onto the bay, Harper in the passenger seat. They watch on as the owner of the yacht stands on the deck arguing with the son of the Chinese mafia, Derek Chung. Two boats down from the yacht were Ausman and Goose, their heads peering over the top of the yacht as they lie low. Ausman, with his outstretched arm, starts snapping photos of the meeting. Just then another car pulls up alongside, "hi John".

Reese looks past Harper and through into the other car, "Joey".

Flicking his head to the the khaki shorts on the yacht, "who's the shorts?"

Chuckling, "that's Eric Harris, son of the Harris Estate and horse racing tycoon Scott Harris" replies Harper, filling Joey in with the other details learnt from Team Reese.

Joey drops his mouth open in an _'o'_ , and says nothing further as they watch on.

After another round of heated exchanges, Chung leaves first, his thugs following closely behind. Eric then steps off the yacht with his own security team.

Reese nods to Ausman and Goose who have now clambered off the yacht they were lying on, to follow Eric, while Harper had already hopped out and jumped into Joey's vehicle. Reese watches as Joey too drives off, continuing to follow Chung.

* * *

"Heads up Root", Jenna informs over the comms from her vantage point on the roof of the opposite building, looking in through the bar window to where Root was sitting via her binoculars.

Matt walks into the bar, and instantly notices the girl in the red dress, again. Walking up to her, "three times in one day, it must be my lucky day", as Matt stops in front of Root, "no time like the present," as he stops to look around Root for the company she was with, "if the lady is not with anyone" and looks to Root and then the empty seat beside her.

Head still leaning on her arm which is resting on the table, Root fake sad smiles, "sure, I could do with some company"

Surprised, "bad day?"

"You could say that" as she tilts her head into her arm...

Nodding and smiling, Matt sits down and calls over the bar tender.

"Nice one" muses Jenna over the comms.

* * *

Sitting in the apartment, Shaw sits up from the couch, then slides back down onto it again as she continues to flick through the tv channels. Unsatisfied, she clicks the tv off again, and with a heavy sigh, flops back onto the couch. Bear canters up and noses the hanging outstretched arm and whines.

Scratching Bear's snout, "I know Bear, me too."

"Woof, woof", Bear looks eagerly at Shaw, wagging his tail excitedly, but Shaw remained motionless, not even looking at him. "Woof, woof!" Bear calls again, still panting eagerly at her.

With another heavy sigh, Shaw sits up, "ok boy", and goes to change.

* * *

Breaking into the penthouse suite apartment on the upper East side, Mill lets out a long breathy whistle indicating how impressed he was with it. He then walks to the window, mouth gaping as he over looks over into the city view, having forgot himself already.

Reina chuckles at him before Finch indicates for her to enter the apartment first. Upon seeing the apartment Reina is also impressed, "how does a self employed business data analyst consultant afford this?"

This time it was Finch's turn to chuckle.

"I don't know but wow..." As Mill begins to look at the electronic gadgets, state of the art technology tv and sound system, digital lighting system, walk in wardrobe, as he makes his way into the bedroom. Even the bathroom was bigger than Mill's own apartment. Regaining himself, Mill goes back the front door and opens it slightly, keep it ajar to keep a look out.

Finch was already at the desktop computer, in front of the two state of the art monitors and latest core processor computer. "Looks like Mr Acker is doing some insider trading", confirms Finch as he finds what he's looking for within minutes. "Ms Reina"

"Finch, it's just Reina, Ms is not part of the code name" Mill informs looking back at Finch from the door.

Stopping his typing and nodding at him in acknowledgement before turning back to Reina, "Ms..." Finch grimaces, "Reina, have you found any clues about our mystery Mr Acker?"

Chuckling at Mill's playfulness, "uh, still looking Mr Finch" as Reina continues to rummage around the apartment searching for clues.

Finch smiles into the monitors as he plugs in a USB to download Ackers data, there was so much and they needed more time to both decrypt and analysis it all.

As Reina comes back into the main room empty handed, she shakes her head to confirm she had found nothing of use. Walking closer to Finch, "anything on your end?"

"Nothing I can see, but there is a lot of data here" as Finch finishes by pulling out the USB and holding it in the air to signal mission complete.

Nodding Reina looks around the apartment one last time to ensure she had put everything back the way it was while Finch finishes shutting down the computer.

Opening the front door wider open, Mill peers through checking for the all clear, before the three slip back into the hall and back out the building.

 _Click,_ "we're finished, leaving now", informs Reina over the comms.

* * *

"Root, they've leaving the apartment now", Jenna confirms the message via the comms as she sits in the car looking towards the restaurant. Moments later Jenna spots Root and Matthew exit the restaurant and stand on the sidewalk.

* * *

Shaw doesn't usually jog at night, but dxmn it Root, she had to be out working a number, as Shaw turns a corner down another quiet street. With little foot traffic, Shaw is able to stretch her legs further as she increases the pace, Bear running happily beside her.

 _Buzz... Buzz..._

Glancing at the phone, Shaw hesitates before deciding to follow The Machine's instructions, and turns to jog away from her usual route.

* * *

"Thank you for the drinks, though I should have been the one paying since I spilt the coffee on you", Root offers bashfully.

Laughing and shaking his head, "I insisted. Can I drop you off somewhere?" As Matt shows the car keys in his hand.

"No it's fine, I don't live too far from here, and it's a nice night to walk"

"Then I'll walk you", Matt insists as he waits for Root to lead the way.

Within the car, Jenna grimaces as she watches Root struggle to shake the guy, _'shxt'._ Just then she spots Root pull out her phone.

Pretending her phone had buzzed, "I might need that lift after all" as she looks back up at Matt.

Smiling, Matthew flicks his head, _'come on then'_ as he leads her to the car parked half way down the block.

Jenna then receives a message from Root, _'tell Mill to get to C-T Mem now'_. Smiling Jenna is impressed, ' _good idea!'_

* * *

As Finch reaches the office, he hands the USB to Daizo as he chuckles at Casey having fallen asleep over his keyboard despite the loud music still blasting from his headphones.

* * *

Arriving, Shaw sees a series of train carts, tracks and heavy machinery. Slowing, Shaw ducks behind a train cart as she spots a body being dragged from a vehicle and into a small office building. Looking down at Bear, Shaw smirks at him before making her way closer to the office.

Crouching low and peering over through the cracked window, she sees the body being restrained to a chair. "Woof, woof", as Bear warns and snarls, but it was too late, as Shaw is hit over the head.

Disturbed by the soft groaning sound beside her, Shaw waits for the ringing in her own head to fade as she continues to keep her eyes closed. Finally finding it a little more bearable, she opens one eye to adjust, then the other. Nox was stirring beside her, sitting side by side, back to back. Shaw tugs at the rope restraining her hands, ' _tight'_. In the short distance, a handful of thugs were talking, discussing maybe, instructions being relayed over the phone. To her side a shadow through the window in the distance, the same window she was just at. The shadow disappears again once he catches Shaw's gaze, _'good boy, Bear'._

"Well, this is fun", as Shaw looks over her shoulder to the voice tugging on her restraints, before abruptly stopping again as the thugs walk towards them.

Thug leader walks up close and very personal into Nox's space, ad bends down to her eye level, almost growling. Nox stares straight back in defiance. Standing up again, he walks round and does the same with Shaw.

Watching, Shaw catches herself starting to tilt her head, and stops herself as thug leader leans in closer to her. Scoffing with a smirk, Shaw shakes her head back to the present.

"What's so funny?" Asks thug leader, curious and surprised at Shaw's reaction.

Shaw just shrugs in reply. Standing and backing away from Shaw, thug leader looks Shaw up and down, clearly not sure what to make of this situation. "Who are you working for?"

Seeing thug leader's confusion, "can't a girl go for a run with her dog without being hit across the head by a deadbeat?"

"Not when the girl is snooping" snaps thug leader, before turning to two of his colleagues, "you two! Go find the dog!"

One of the thugs instantly froze, "do I..."

"Go!" Shouts thug leader, snarling again before focusing his attention back to Shaw, "who are you?"

Keeping quiet, Shaw smirks.

Getting no where with Shaw, thug leader walks round and tries Nox, "how about you, why were you following us?"

"Can't a girl go for a stroll through the park without being hit across the head by a deadbeat?" Before turning to Shaw, "so they weren't kidding when they said the city is a dangerous place for a girl", as Nox finishes also smirking at thug leader.

Clearly having a bad night, thug leader breathes in, and then exhales in a loud huff, clearly in rising anger. "I don't have time for this, get rid of them" as he commands the other two thugs by his side.

As one thug walks towards Shaw, and the other to Nox, growling and snarling, followed by screams, is heard outside the office, and everyone's attention is diverted to the door. One thug then comes running in a state of panic, back into the office. Just as this happens, Shaw stomps her heel into the thug in front of her. As this thugs bends crying in pain, Shaw then head butts before swinging round and smashing her chair into him. The thug stumbles back and then quickly goes down in a heap, _'rookie'._

Simultaneously, Nox does the same, heeling the thug and throwing herself on him as she smashes her chair onto him. Before hitting the ground, this thug manages to grab Nox, bringing her down with him. As Nox lies on the ground she quickly knocks her assailant unconscious with a swift kick before untying the rest of the rope from her torso and wrists while she stands back up.

As Nox does this, thug leader lunges for Nox. Too focused on shaking herself loose from the restraints, she doesn't spot thug leader until he crashes down on one knee next to her. Shaw had kicked out his knee to stop his attack on Nox. Spotting the knife in his hand, Nox quickly spins and knees thug leader in the face. With the extreme opposing force of thug leader's direction of fall, and Nox's knee, he crashes to the ground, lights instantly out.

The fourth thug who crashed back into the office was now lunging at Shaw, however Shaw had by that time untied the rope from her hands and was beating him up in hand to hand combat. The man also goes down in a heap in no time.

Stopping to look over her shoulder at Nox, who nods back in acknowledgement, Shaw runs out of the office, and skids to a halt as she runs past the growling heard just beside the door she had just exited. Turning back, Bear had the last thug pinned against the building wall. Sauntering up to Bear and smirking at the last thug, "good boy, Bear."

Hearing the sirens blaring, NYPD vehicles come skidding to a halt just behind her in the yard just as Nox walks out of the office. Shaw, facing the vehicles, spots Fusco and Harper climb out of one of them, ' _good timing, Lionel,'_ as Nox also acknowledges Harper.

Fusco wasn't as thrilled to see Shaw, or Nox. Seeing those two was like seeing double vision.

Leaving Fusco and Harper to clean up, Shaw turns back to Nox who was holding her arm, blood clearly draining from it.

* * *

Walking through the entrance of Carter-Turing Memorial, Root runs up to the front desk, Matt following closely behind.

"Miller Wilson" Root questions, "is he ok?"

The nurse, played by Reina, looks up at Root before going to the computer, pretending to type something. "Wilson..." She teases, as Reina spots Matt looking over Root's shoulder, and then expectantly at her, "broken arm from a fall down the apartment stairs. He's getting his arm cast right now, should be out any time." She pauses, waiting for Root to acknowledge. "You can take a seat over there" as she points over to the waiting area.

Root moves to the waiting area, then stops and turns to Matt, "oh I'm sorry, thanks for dropping me off here, you _really_ don't have to wait with me, you've done enough already" she says with gratitude.

"I'm here now, what's a little more time?"

"This guy is persistent" comments Jenna over the comms as she is now lurking in the waiting area, having slipped in after Root and Matt.

Nodding, Root was about to continue to the waiting room, however Mill then walks out into the hall and towards Root.

"Hey Sis!" He greets as he walks closer. Root looks him over, "I'm fine Sis, it's worse than it looks, honest" as Mill goes to lift his arm, too quickly, and grimaces in pain.

Root just looks at Mill bemused in reply as Mill turns to look at Matt, suspiciously.

"Hey man", Matt greets awkwardly before Mill looks back at Root.

"Oh, this is Matt, a colleague", as Root continues to play out the scene.

Nodding, and then looking back at Matt, "hey!" And flicks his head at him in greeting, "I'd shake your hand but", as Mill points to the cast.

Nodding and chuckling, "yeah, that would be a problem" before turning to Root, "I see you have a busy night ahead, I'll catch you next time?" As he looks at her expectantly.

Root smiles and places a hand on his arm, "thank you for the drinks, and driving me here. I still have your card" as she continues to teases and flirt.

Matt smiles and pecks Root on the cheek as Root watches him leave for the exit. Jenna also exits, following Matt closely from behind.

Looking behind Root, Mill freezes as he stretches his lips into the back of his face, _'eeeeeee'..._ Watching Mill's expression change, Root chuckles, tilts her head and then turns round flicking her wavy brown hair over her shoulder and locks eyes with her thunder ball, gazing, as usual, adoringly, at her.

As Shaw walks the few remaining steps to Root, Bear having already ran to her, Shaw keeps her glare on Mill, who eventually scampers away from the scorch of the glare. Shaw stops close into Root's personal space. Planting her feet, Shaw turns her head to glare over her shoulder at Reina, burn, as she catches Shaw's eyes and Reina ducks behind the shelves at the nurse's station.

Nox looks on amused at the unfolding chain reaction, as does Root. Finally her attention focuses back on Root, and as they do, Root finishes patting Bear and places her arms on Shaw's, stroking them to soothe her, except, Shaw's eyes widen a little as she scans down Root's body, slowly, taking in the red dress, and heels. Root already towered over her, with the added heels, Shaw was now covered in leg. Smirking and leaning into Shaw's ear, "hey Sweetie", Root coos, "wanna get out of here?"

Nox watches as Shaw leaves with Root, and Bear, jumping around them. Nox's thoughts are broken as she feels a pair of eyes on her. Looking over her shoulder at the eyes, Nox spots Reina now standing in front of, and leaning on the nurses station desk, smiling at her while spinning her car keys around her finger. Grabbing the spinning keys, Reina continues to look at Nox as she flicks her head towards the exit. Nox couldn't help but shake her head and smile as she walks towards the exit, meeting Reina there.

* * *

"Aussie?" As Ausman hears Jenna's voice over the comms, before feeling the car shake as the passenger door opens and she jumps in the vehicle.

Surprised to see her, Jenna nods at Matt returning back to his own apartment.

Ausman nods and smiles, then flicks his head at the two thugs standing on the corner a short distance away from the apartment door.

Jenna, now seeing the two thugs, nods at Ausman in acknowledgement. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Crashing through the apartment door, Root nearly falls on top of Shaw had Shaw not been embracing her with her strong arms and core muscles, keeping them upright as their keys clatter to the floor, both passionately fighting for control, nipping, sucking and kissing each other.

 _Thud,_ Bear has nosed the front door shut behind them before wandering over to the couch merrily...

Finally feeling a pair of eyes on them, they stop.

Looking to the side, Root sees a bemused Gen sitting on the couch, before smiling, "hey Sweetie, how was your..." Before abruptly stopping and leaning heavily into Shaw's head with her own. Root couldn't help but let out a low moan into Shaw's ear as Shaw continues to suck on Root's neck. Not feeling the need to socialise, Shaw grabs Root, lifts, and then carries her to their bedroom.

Along with new pieces of clothing in the wardrobe was a new laptop and noise cancelling head phones sitting on the desk of Gen's new room. Knowing now why the last item especially, was bought, and with still a twitching face of disgust, Gen pulls the head phones back over her head and continues tapping on her laptop, _'like... Yuck!'_


	26. INSERT: The Shooter - Stand down

Cht 26

INSERT: The Shooter - Stand down

 _'Sameen, you are but only two metres away, and I so want to reach out to you,_

 _but I can't as my wrists are tied, and this man holds me back._

 _There is a gulf between us, as this man jerks, pulls and tugs me back, away from you._

 _I feel his elbow on my back._

 _He's screaming, I think, it's on my right side, as I feel the barrel of the cold steel glock pushed against my temple._

 _It should be more painful than it is as the world around me disappears._

 _My beautiful girl, "Sameen, I..."_

* * *

A shot is fired, but the sound of the shot isn't heard...

The silence of the crashing waves, the smell of the salty sea, and the stillness of the night.

* * *

 _ **'I see how she looks at her, her beating heart.**_

 _ **So calm, so still, the unflinching will to focus.**_

 _ **As we surround and close in on him, he only gets more irate,**_

 _ **the barrel of his gun now held at Root's head.**_

 _ **What chaos will this bring, the hammer drawing back'**_

* * *

It did not rain that day, but it might as well have had.


	27. Consequences

Cht 27

Consequences

Sitting in the large living room in his estate home, Scott Harris barks "how can this be an accident?" As he flings down one of the threat letters from his hand onto the pile sitting on the table in front of him. "Look at how many threats there are here, one of these low lives is responsible!" He finishes accusingly.

Standing in the corner of the room, Danny stands watching on.

"There is no evidence of foul play, Sir" informs the NYPD officer standing there.

Snorting, "the bxtch had it coming".

"Don't talk about your mother that way!" Harris turns and snarls at his son.

Smirking, "she's not my mom, just another slut you picked off the streets" as he stands, and looks right back at his father, almost snarling back at him.

 _'Charming family'_ , as Danny witnesses Eric then walk out of the room.

"My wife is dead and I've lost three race horses!" as Harris' heart beats faster, his anger increasing, "do you know how many millions I've lost this season alone? The commissioner will be hearing about this, you inco..." A grunt, followed by a shallow slow gasp as he tries to suck in air...

Danny's eyes widen as he watches Harris' face turn red as his hands grab at his own throat.

The officer runs to catch the falling man, "Sir, Sir, are you ok? Sir?" As the officer cradles his fall, and other members of staff crowd round. Clicking into the radio on his shoulder, "despatch, paramedics required asap..."

* * *

"Ok, what the hell is going on?" Asks Fusco, confused and looking to Finch, Root, Reina, Mill, Reese and Harper, who are all gathered within one of the office meeting rooms. Everyone else was out on surveillance and gathering more intel on all the numbers they've received so far.

"I'm not sure Detective, we haven't ever received the numbers of an entire family before. That we know of anyway" Finch corrects as he realises that Pierce and his Team received some of the other numbers to make up the whole.

"Clearly The Machine wants us to work together, right? That's why we keep running into each other?" Asks Harper.

Crashing into the meeting room, "he's sneaked out his apartment" confirms Ausman, "but left in a hurry, some clothing missing from hangers, and the place is a little dishevelled."

"Nor his office, or any other offices" adds Jenna.

"I thought you guys were watching Ackers?" Asks Fusco confused.

Ausman and Goose had split up after following Eric and his security team, or more accurately, his henchmen from the yacht as Eric went one way, and some of his henchmen went another. It turned out out Eric had just returned home, therefore allowing Goose to return back to the office, while Ausman was left sitting outside an apartment building alone, until Jenna soon joined him as she followed Matthew Ackers home from the hospital.

Pushing Ausman aside and further into the room, Jenna continues, "we were, but then we saw Eric's henchmen go into the building. We thought it was all going down so we followed them in, only when we reached the apartment door we heard the two idiots screaming and shouting at each other before angrily walking out of the apartment again."

Raising his eyebrow, Mill teases, "and you two weren't spotted, _how_?"

Fusco points a stern look at Mill, just as Ausman does the same. Shaking his head and back to the subject at hand, Ausman continues the report, "so we went into the apartment after and found the place tossed. Ackers must have ran out the fire escape sometime during..."

 _Buzz... Buzz..._

Reading the message flashing onto the flat scene tv in the room, a message from The Machine, _'Matthew Ackers located',_ Root looks over to Reese, who nods at her in acknowledgement. Root then motions for Reina and Mill to follow her out.

With a deep sigh, Reese turns his attention back to the remaining group, it was going be a long night.

* * *

As a freight ship sail past in the distance, Shaw and Goose are lying on top of a set of containers looking down as Eric and his henchmen walk down past the alley of containers and into a small but open area in the middle where they meet another set of angry looking thugs unloading crates from a container.

Shaw peers through the scope of her rifle and spots the same tattoo on the necks as the thugs who jumped her and Nox at the rail yard. While still peering through her scope, "nice of you guys to join us", she smirks. Goose looks away from his camera and looks around, and true enough, Joey peers out slightly from hiding behind a container on the ground. Not far from him was Nox, hiding behind some stationary and parked loading vehicles, looking towards Chung and his thugs.

The four watch as Eric and Chung meet, then exchange words, which only got heated with time.

"Where is he? Where's the money Harris?! You said we could trust him." As Chung shouts pointing his finger at Eric.

About to scream back in just as much venom at Chung in retaliation, his ringing phone interrupts him, and Eric answers it angrily instead, "what?!..." Hanging up again, "you take care of this", as Eric snarls at Chung to continue unloading the crates, "I'll take care of Dyers," smirking, "we've just found him.

As Eric and his henchman leave, Shaw and Goose were about to leave also to continue following him until _clang..._

Everyone's attention turns towards the noise. Chung instructs two of his thugs to go check out what the noise was as everyone stops what they're doing, and now has their hands over their weapons at the ready.

Shaw's breathing slows and calms as she points her rifle at one of the thugs, while Goose unlocks his weapon, his heart pounding out his chest as he fights to control the racing adrenaline pumping through his veins. Nox watches on silently, gun cocked also at the ready, and Joey tries to stay as quiet as possible, no where to hide as the two thugs make their way closer to the noise, and him.

 _Clang..._

The thugs cock their gun and point them forward on hearing the sound again, clearly nervous. Closer...

Just as the one thug is about to round the corner of the container, "meow!" A cat jumps on him and frightens him while the second thug's knee cap is shot out, and he goes down crying in pain.

As the first thug recovers from the jumping cat, Joey has already got to him and knocks him unconscious with a choke hold.

Seeing one of his men shot, and then the other being dragged away behind a container, Chung turns and points his gun up, and shoots at Shaw, setting off a chain reaction of gun fire at Shaw as his thugs follow their leader. Bullets ricochet off the container making Goose jump and then dive further flat onto the container, taking cover. Nox shoots out from behind her hiding spot, diverting some of the thugs attention as the thugs realise there were more than two attackers and scatter to take cover themselves.

Sirens blare in the background, the noise increasing as the vehicle near the scene, all the while bullets continue to fly in all directions as Chung and his men try to flee as they spot the cops arriving.

* * *

"Argh!" Matt screams as he is tackled to the ground by Mill. Quickly flipping onto his back, using his momentum, Matt kicks Mill in the face, "get off me" he shouts as he does so. Mill is sent flying sideways from the force of the kick connecting with his jaw, causing him to see stars for a bit as Matt clambers back up and continues to run.

Reina runs past the still horizontal Mill, taking over the chase. "Why are you running from us?" Calls Reina as she places a hand on Matt's shoulder, "we're not going to hurt you!" As Reina pulls hard on his shoulder, Matt spins and is now facing Reina. Both having now standing still.

"I'm a thief, but I'm not a murderer... I didn't know he was going to kill her. I'm not going down for that!" Matt finishes, obviously scared.

Confused, Reina's follow up questions to Matt was cut short when she hears shots being fired from behind her, the direction in which she just ran from. _'Mill!'_ as Reina looks over her shoulder, then back at an anxious Matt, who is ready to turn the opposite direction to continue fleeing. With Reese's words ringing in her mind, _'always have your partner's back'_ _,_ Reina watches as Matt start to run while she turns back towards Mill, giving up the chase on Matt, retracing her steps ...

As Matt runs out the warehouse, he runs towards the stack of piled up shipping containers, and past Root's line of sight.

Seeing another woman now running towards him from a distance, _'what the hell is wrong with these people, they playing catch tag?!'_ As he tries to out run her by zig zagging through the different alleyways between the large stack of containers.

Seeing Mill pinned behind some crates in a corner in the distance, a handful of henchman closing in on him, Reina fires at them, hitting one. As a henchman goes down, Reina jumps behind a pillar for cover as a couple fire back, quickly prompting the rest of the henchman to take cover as they retreat away from Mill and hide behind pillars and crates opposite Reina. Mill looking to where Reina is, he notes that there was no way for them to meet, the space between them was too open. Now they were all in an awkward stand off as both sides become weary of each other, rounds of shots ringing off every so often as a reminder of each other's presence.

* * *

As Goose opens the passenger side door, eyes still looking into the distance, watching as ICE officers arrest Chung and his thugs and open the crates, revealing mass amounts of white powdered substance, Shaw dumps her rifle in the trunk and slams it shut again before her attention is caught,

 _Buzz... Buzz..._

Checking her phone, Shaw then runs and jumps into the drivers seat and starts the engine so quickly Goose is barely able to clamber the rest of himself into the car before the wheels have started spinning, and the vehicle shoots off.

Nox and Joey look away from the ICE officers clearing the crime scene and towards Shaw's now gone vehicle, before turning to look at each other questioningly.

 _Buzz... Buzz... Shipyard area 10._

Quickly jumping into the car, Nox also skids off to area ten. It wasn't far, but it also wasn't near as they now leave area two.

* * *

Harper is pacing around in front of the white board, hand on head while she looks again and again at the photos, ' _what is the link between them all?'_

Finch is tapping on his laptop while Fusco just drops a report he was reading onto the pile of reports already on the table in front of him.

Reese is sitting leaning into the back legs of his chair as he throws a ball into the wall and catching it as it bounces back. All the while Bear chases and tries to grab the ball from Reese.

Ausman has now laid down over two seats in the corner of the room, resting his eyes, while Jenna walks back into the room with a few mugs of coffee, skipping round Bear as she near drops the mugs, spilling and splashing some of it's contents onto the table, before breathing a sigh of relief that none of the mugs were smashed.

Just then Danny walks in,"Scott Harris is in intensive care, suspected heart attack brought on by suspected poisoning" sighing, "he's stable now" as he drops himself onto a chair in the room, it has been a _long_ day, and he wasn't the only one as Danny looks to the just as tired faces in the room.

Everyone's attention is then diverted as Daizo and Casey enter the meeting room, they had finally managed to crack and decipher Ackers encrypted data as they pull the information onto the tv screen while everyone gathers round.

"Matthew Ackers didn't exist until two weeks ago, along with his apartment rental agreement and registration of his shell company" starts Casey, "Matt was wired money to his account by Eric to buy all the shares sold by Eric prior to the stable fire." Photos of Ackers meeting with Eric Harris then flashes on screen, "Ackers real name is actually Stephen Dyers, he's a grifter. Insider trading, short selling, identity thief, all white collar stuff. After the fire, Ackers then sold all the shares and closed the bank account."

"And then disappears!" Finishes Jenna.

"So Dyers, Harris and Chung are all in this together! I followed Chung's men to the stables, which means that he must have given the order to set the stables on fire", offers Harper.

"But we received Mrs Harris' number Ms Rose" adds Finch.

"An extra opportunity Finch", offers Reese. "Two birds, one stone. Which means it's either Scott or Eric Harris that ordered Mrs Harris' death since we were the ones who received all of the Harris family's numbers."

"And since Scott Harris is now also in hospital, and Eric has the connection with both Chung and Ackers, it must be Eric!" Offers Danny, "even the way he speaks about Mrs Harris, she's not his real mom and looks like he doesn't like his father all that much either!"

"So..." As Jenna cuts in, "this is all just about, _money_? Not only is Eric Harris short selling his own company's stock, but he's removing his parents, for _money_? That's sick."

"But that doesn't explain the attack on Shaw and Nox at the railway yard by Chung's second in command" Fusco adds.

"Sure it does", Harper smiles, "Nox was following Chung's second but needed back up. You said it yourselves, Shaw was only out jogging that evening, no number. Then she received a text from The Machine, which meant she was closest to Nox at the time, and she needed back up."

Hanging up on his phone, "I've been called back to the precinct" as Fusco finishes by standing and walking out the room, leaving the rest of them to continue to work out the motives.

 _Buzz... Buzz... Shipyard area 10. Lock and load. FBI._

"Seriously?" adds Harper before she follows Reese, Jenna and Danny towards the inventory.

Casey and Daizo also leave to return to their desks as Bear walks to Finch, the ball in his mouth. Dropping it in front of Finch and barking, "ok, Bear. It _is_ getting late," Finch concedes, before closing his laptop and walking out with Bear.

* * *

Root chases after Matt through the shipyard along another one of the container made alleys, "Matt, stop!"

Surprised and shocked to recognise Root's voice, Matt stops and turns around, "Sophia?" Before realising that that probably wasn't her real name either. Recollecting himself and cautiously looking around, "it isn't safe here."

Root glancing straight at Matt, "we..."

Just then two henchmen turn the corner and instantly shoot at them, and Matt ducks and covers his head.

Root also crouches before spinning around, grabbing her guns from her waistband as she does so, and shoots back just as shots flying towards her miss and ricochet off the containers with a spark. Taking the two down, Root turns around to find that Matt had run off, and he was now nearly to the end of the alley. Breathing out a heavy sigh, Root quickly gets up and chases after him, again.

Reaching the end of this alley of containers, Matt turns a corner and continues running, not looking back. Root huffs as she continues to chase. Though she had been training, courtesy of Shaw forcing her to, her legs were starting to ache from the extended running. Just as she reaches the corner and begins to turn towards Matt's direction of run, she is jumped, punched, and dragged away...

Skidding to a halt, Shaw quickly grabs her vest and rifle from the trunk of the car, along with a couple of extra clips for her glock, and runs towards the sound of gun fire.

Goose, after unravelling his grip from the door handle, and the feelings of hands return to him again, stumbles out and also grabs a vest and rifle from the trunk before running after Shaw. On the furious short drive over, Shaw would have probably smashed through all the containers to get here had The Machine not cleared the road of all pedestrians and container loading traffic. But this only made Shaw drive more furious as she drifted round corners and didn't let go of the pressure on the accelerator at any point. Goose was barely able to stay in his seat as he witnessed Shaw drive like a maniac.

As Shaw and Goose peek through the door of the warehouse, they see more of Eric's henchmen shooting in two different directions. They both sneak in and hide behind boxes and crates near the entrance. They soon spot, first Mill in the distance, then Reina. Just then, Joey and Nox also arrive. They fan out.

Joey and Nox move in the direction to support Mill, while Shaw and Goose move in the direction to help Reina.

Shaw ducks down next to Reina as Goose lays down cover fire, "where's Root?" She demands urgently as she continues to shoot out towards the thugs.

Breathing out a sigh of relief in seeing the Team arrive, "I don't know, we got split up. Last time Mill and I saw her she was outside near the loading bay and containers."

At that moment Goose also arrives by Shaw and Reina's side. Distracted between shots, Shaw had disappeared.

* * *

"Where's my money" as Eric commands, spitting in Root's face as the fog over her eyes clear.

She was standing in the loading bay surrounded by containers, two henchmen on either side of her, holding her by the upper arm while her wrists are restrained.

"What are you talking about" as Root shakes her head and blinks still trying to clear the dizzy from the punch still ringing through her head.

"Don't act dumb! I've seen you with Dyer. Where's my money?!" As Eric pushes his face into hers, eyes red with anger.

Recognising that this was Eric, _'Matt must have stolen the money...'_ Root creases her brow.

Seeing no reply from Root, Eric takes out his gun, "you can make this easy woman, or we can play it your way" as he points it down to one of Root's feet. "You have two feet after all" he smirks.

Just as Root is about to open her mouth, _zip_ _..._

And one of Root's arms is released as one of the henchmen go down screaming as his knee is shot out. The other also lets go of Root's other arm, but he spins around gun drawn, _zip_ _..._ Shaw shoots out the henchman's hand, the hand which was holding the gun before, _zip_ _... T_ he knee of this second henchman is also hit and he crashes to the ground also crying in agony.

Eric, with his shaky hand, fires back sporadically, now in a state of panic at witnessing the marksmanship of this shooter. He himself had also shot several bullets, but none of them hit it's mark as Shaw sees one spark off the container near her head while the other shots hit the ground beside her, making Shaw dive to the side for cover.

* * *

Reese, Danny and Jenna in one vehicle while Harper and Ausman follow in the second behind, were all patched into the comms by The Machine, listening to what was unfolding in the warehouse and in the loading bay.

Reese hearing the shots in the background, grips the wheel of his vehicle tighter as he wills the car to go faster. Danny, in the passenger seat in the back, balls his hands in fists as he looks helplessly out the window.

* * *

Just then Mill emerges behind Eric, but not before Eric spots him and grabs one of Root's still restrained arms and stopping Root from running towards Shaw. With a hard pull, Eric pulls Root back into him and turns her towards Mill's line of fire, using Root as a shield. Mill's eyes widen as he instantly jerks his finger away from the trigger as his body tenses in shock.

Smirking, Eric drags Root as he backs further down the dock away from the containers. Shaw could only watch as the sight of Root starts to disappear as she follows slowly. All the while the sounds of gun fire continues to ring out around them as Reina, Goose, Nox and Joey despatch of what's left of Eric's henchmen.

As Eric continues to back up and drag Root, "get back!" He screams as he sees Shaw and Mill continuing to follow him. "Get back, I said!" as Eric points his glock at Root.

* * *

Joey and Goose watch over the now rounded up and restrained henchmen as Nox and Reina slip away to support Shaw and Mill.

* * *

About to walk in the direction of some parked vehicles in the dockyard, intending to use one as a getaway vehicle, Eric is stopped as he spots Nox and Reina walking towards him from that direction, guns also pointed at him, pushing him back into the corner of the dock. Surrounded he had nowhere else to go as his back meets the ocean.

Breaking off the silence, "come on Eric, put the weapon down, you've no where to go" urges Mill.

"Get back, or I swear", as Eric continues to shout manically. Backed into a corner, Eric's desperation was growing, his anger beginning to spiral. "I'm not going down for this, let me go or I'll kill her!" Eric threatens as he pushes the barrel of his glock into Root's temple, sending a stabbing pain up Root's face. "Get back!" He commands as Eric starts to lose all sense of self and reason, the tension spiralling, the situation dire, "I'll do it" he screams, as his gun hand begins to shake, and the other hand pulling Root closer to him, his elbow jabbing into her back as he jerks her about. "I'm not going to prison!"

 _T_ _hump, thump, thump..._

Shaw is hyper aware of her heart beat, no longer hearing the noise around her as she exhales a long and pointed exhale down the barrel of her rifle, sucking the air back in slowly, she fills her lungs with air again, and her shoulders relax.

 _T_ _hump, thump, thump..._

Looking through her scope she continues to gaze at Root. Those soft brown eyes.

All the while Root continues to focus only on Shaw, the world around her disappearing.

 _Thump, thump, thump..._

Shaw exhales slowly, controlling the speed of her heart beat as adrenaline coarses through her body.

"I said let me go or else..." as the hammer of the gun draws back, a shipping container drifts closer into port in the background. Eric was no longer in control as his emotions take over, pass the point of reason, pass the point of return.

 _Thump, thump, thump..._

Spotting Root's lips part slightly, a faint smile, her posture relaxes as she closes her eyes and begins to drop... Dipping her head, _click, fuzz..._ "Sameen, I..."

A shot is fired, but the sound of the shot isn't heard, drowned out by the horn of the container ship drawing in to dock.

The silence of the crashing waves, the smell of the salty sea, and the stillness of the night...

A body falls like a crumpled heap to the ground, and the screaming ends. An eerie silence drifts over replacing it as the smoke from the shot dissipates and the atmosphere dampens, finally coming down from the highly strung chaos that was, only a fraction of a second earlier.

Eyes widened, Mill runs towards the crumpled body.

Sirens of back up, and FBI cleaning up fills in the space around them.

Having finally arrived, "Agent Reginald Tucker" as Reese holds up his FBI credentials and moves around his Team to direct the crime scene while Harper and Goose assist.

Danny seeks out Reina, and grabs her arm, squeezing it tight. It was a comfort as they look to each other, that could have been them. Mill sits on a corner of a crate. Spotting him, Ausman sits down next to him.

With the smoke from Shaw's rifle dissipating, Nox watches on as the two people in front of her embrace so tightly, like nothing else in the world mattered.

Leaning in, Shaw whispers into Root's good ear, "I can't lose you."

Root drops further into Shaw's embrace, all her energy suddenly disappearing as relief takes over.

Shaw holds Root tighter as she feels Root's body begin to shake, her adrenaline finally allowed to leave her.

" _Sameen, I do, always_ ", the haunting whisper that was transmitted over the comms a split second before the shot, continues to ring out in Nox's head. Nox lowers her gaze from them, and with it, her gun. The threat now gone.

It did not rain that day, but it might as well have had.


	28. Family

Cht 28

Family

" _... Final call to Bogota. Please proceed to boarding gate C124 immediately. This is the final call for UA1068 to Bogota, please proceed to boarding gate C124 immediately"_ as the airport announcement repeats itself for the second time.

Spotting a sharply dressed man in shades and a straw hat walking quickly towards her at Terminal C, gate 124, "Sir, flight to Bogota?" As the man nods, the gate security employee continues, "boarding pass and passport please."

She watches on as the man takes off his shades and balances them in the hand he was also using to hold his hand carry, and fumbles into his jacket pocket for the required documents. As the documents are handed over and the security employee checks it, the man looks nervously around him, and stops. Eyes widening, he does a double take and looks back over his shoulder. Unfortunately he wasn't hallucinating, they were really there.

Mill and Reina lean over the charge station in the middle of the concord between the boarding gates surrounding them. Mill touches his jaw lightly, remembering the kick to the face as he continues to watch the scene in front of him unfold.

Matt turns to the voice nearing him, "Matthew Ackers, Stephen Dyers, or whatever hell name you're going by these days" Fusco calls as he grabs Matt's arm and twists it around him back, "you have the right to remain silent, anything you do say..." And handcuffs Matt.

Seeing the police officers the boarding gate security staff hands over the passport and boarding pass to one of the officers accompanying Fusco while Matt looks back at Mill and Reina, who are now grinning as they clink their coffee mugs together watching Matt be arrested.

Fusco winks at them both as Matt is dragged away back out the airport.

Instead of just running, Dyers had to be greedy and take the money too. Now, along with a long list of fraud charges, he would be charged with accessory to murder, accessory to drug trafficking and racketeering along with Chung.

* * *

Meanwhile outside boarding gate C92...

Looking down at Gen's beaming grin, Finch shakes his head and smiles at her before turning to say his farewell to Root who was standing beside him as Gen goes to give Grace a hug.

As Gen pulls away, Grace ushers Gen back to Shaw's side and looks straight at Shaw. "Look after her" instructs Grace, before Shaw watches her eyes side glance slowly towards Root, before returning to Shaw's gaze and smiling a tight smile at her, a knowing glint in her eye.

"Don't worry Harry" as Root pulls away from her embrace with him, "we'll see you both soon!"

Reese turns and nods, "Finch."

"Mr Reese" as Finch bows slightly at them all and turns to join the queue to enter the boarding gate with Grace.

Root loops her arm around Shaw as they turn to walk away, while Reese looks on with a lopsided smile at his old friend for a moment longer before Gen punches him on the arm. "Come on lurch, I'm hungry, let's go eat!"

Looking down at Gen, Reese can't help but make the connection, and smile in amusement, _'you are definitely Root and Shaw's!'_ As Reese follows the bounding Gen out of the landing side of the airport.

* * *

"I _love_ you, how can you do this?" In desperation the young man, just out of boyhood, grabs her hand.

"Sorry kid, it's not personal, you know?!" As a seasoned pro she was magnificently cocky and full of _fake_ sincerity.

"I gave you _everything_!" As he reaches over and tries to grab at her from across the table, the volume of his voice becoming louder making the tension in the room thick as pollution as customers around them choke from the scene playing out before them, no one daring to intervene for fear of contamination.

"And I gladly accepted" as she smirks and stands, her que to leave.

Just then the young man quickly stands and knocks over both his chair and the table, splashing their drinks on the people closest to them. Sensing the danger she quickly turns for the door as the young man freezes for a second in indecision. A second long enough for Jenna and Danny to move towards the him. As the young man finally reacts and starts to step forward to chase after the woman, Jenna and Danny stop cut in off by starting a scene themselves.

 _Smack..._

As Danny grits his teeth and stares at Jenna, _'did you have to hit me so hard!'_ Jenna's hand is left hanging in the air for a split second longer for effect, before she withdrew it again in pretend shock and horror that she had just slapped him.

Regaining himself, Danny plays on as at Jenna before she retaliates by hurling a torrent of abuse at him. As they play out their fight they continue to block the young man from leaving by moving into his way every time he tried to step around them. Jenna pushing Danny into the young man as Danny pretends to stumble into him or his path.

Simultaneously Ausman has made his way to the back of the woman and snakes an arm around her waist before pushing her out the door with a heightened sense off urgency.

Watching helplessly and frustrated at the love of his life slipping away, the young man moves to take the glock out from the side of his jeans' waistband. Having spotted the gun on the young man and number since entering he coffee house, Danny quickly pretends to stumble into the number again while Jenna divests him of the gun. Not realising what was taking place, Danny wrangles the number out of the door, making it look like the young man was caught, in bad timing, in the other couple's lovers quarrel and bungled out the front door. The coffee house customers continue to look on at the door for a few moments longer, stunned at the chain of events. Then the awkward silence fades, and the coffee house carries on their day as if nothing had happened.

Once the woman is pushed a block down from the coffee shop, Ausman unravels his grip around the woman's waist. Feeling the pressure release the woman spins round making to slap Ausman, only he catches her arm and looks down at her, "you're welcome, by the way".

The woman's angered expression turns to surprised confusion.

"Women, if you keep this up you're gonna get yourself killed. He had a gun".

Her mouth starting to gape open. "Oh" as she finally processes the situation, and nods her head at Ausman before walking away.

Ausman shakes his head as he watches the woman leave. Ausman would like to say he was watching in disapproval, but from the view behind, he began to understand why...

* * *

Wrinkling his face and shifting his jaw side to side to check there weren't any fractures before glaring back at Jenna, _'did you have to hit me so hard?'_

Barely containing her obvious enjoyment, she shrugs, "had to make it look real" as Reina and Danny walk into the office kitchen to join them and shoot the breeze.

They continue to try out impress each other as they embellish the stories from their recent missions, high fiving each other in a job well done while the adults were away. Having now 'graduated', they were out chasing numbers on their own, and it felt good.

Behind them Casey is playing Street Fighter with Daizo as they also take some time out, using the 50 inch monitor screens, state of the art facilities, and the fastest processors they had just built in a bid to _'reboot'_ The Machine. If anyone asked, they were testing how fast the processors were running with live stream data. Not that anyone would ask, but just in case.

Behind them Goose sat beside Jason Greenfield as they hack into Matt's new offshore bank account to siphon back the money he embezzled from the Harris estate, and diverts it to the Vets Initiative. They share a chuckle together as the computer monitor flashes the progress of the transfer.

* * *

Root has always held a soft spot for romance and happing endings, especially at weddings, as she ties the last of the ribbons around the chairs laid out beside a long table out in the estate garden. From a distance Shaw watches her as she stands next to Reese. Reese who himself is watching Iris lay out the last of the flower arrangement on the same long table.

Finch is seen shuffling as Fusco approaches him near the end of the garden which overlooked out into the Tyrrhenian Sea, the sun starting to set behind them. Gen is running and cartwheeling with Bear on the grass near them, and Monica is finishing instruction the mini orchestra on the songs to play, just in time as they spot the bride come out of the house through the patio doors, the white drapes fan out into the garden as the light breeze catches it just in time, making the entrance seem fairy tale.

The music starts and Grace is wearing an elegant white lace hugging dress of classic design. Finch with his white shirt and waistcoat, white tie but no jacket, instantly looks up from where he is standing with Fusco, and catches Grace's eyes before smiling, his eyes lighting up as she draws closer to him.

Reese quickly walks over to Grace and offers his arm, which she takes quickly with gratitude, and they walk down the short stone steps, onto the lawn, and across to Finch. The bride holding a small bouquet with red and white roses. Gen runs behind them in her red dress and white ribbon tied round her waist. Her hair, though now slightly dishevelled, is up with white and red ribbon tied into it. Gen then stops to stand beside Shaw as the bride makes the rest of the short journey with Reese.

The melody from the orchestra soothes as it lifts the romantic atmosphere drifting over the small party. Shaw watches as Root's eyes melt looking at her, while Reese catches the same of Iris. Both women caught up the moment. Fusco looks over to Monica with a tight smile as she also nods back.

As the bride reaches the groom, the music crescendos, then fades just as Fusco moves between the two to start the vowels. Reese stands beside Finch, and Root moves closer to stand behind Grace. Watching on, Iris, Monica and Bear also move to stand with Shaw.

After exchanging their vows, sealed with a kiss, the orchestra starts playing again.

Gen runs off down the lawn, teasing Bear him with wedding cake as he barks and runs around with her, excitedly.

Fusco is sitting at the table with Monica by his side, the bride on the other. Both continuing to congratulate Grace as they chat and continue to toast in celebration.

Finch is standing a short distance away from the table with Reese and Iris, Reese hugging Finch in congratulations, _'it was about time.'_

Root is now standing on the spot where the vowels were made, looking back across to Finch and Grace and the rest of the wedding party. Her thoughts are broken as Shaw approaches her, handing her the glass of champagne while Shaw takes a swig from the champagne bottle, carried in her other hand, directly. Root quickly takes the glass and circles her arm around Shaw, pulling her in as the soft warm sun behind them begins to fade away.

* * *

"Whisky, Romeo, Charlie, Delta 851828" informs Machine Root.

Pierce quickly taps on the computer to decipher the code while Joey looks up at Nox, who smirks back before focusing back down on her new carbon bow. Having not had the chance to use it yet, she clicks on it to set it up in anticipation of the action ahead.

Harper wanders into the room and cocks an eye at them all, and they all look to each other with a knowing smile.


End file.
